XMen: Resurrection
by Renegade Ace
Summary: Takes place after X3. My take on how Rogue get's her backbone, Gambit in the movie-verse, what happened to the mutants with the cure and where Xavier went. Romy, Rogan "friendship" , Kitty/Bobby/Peter, Ororo/Logan, Scott/Emma/Jean
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine. Please don't sue. I'm poor.

Summary: My take on what happens after X-Men the last stand. Features Magneto and Rogue (friendship), Gambit, and how Rogue gets herself a back bone.

Please R&R

Enjoy

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Chapter 1

She had to get out. There were too many people back there, in the mansion, even without her powers, there were too many people. It had been 3 months since she lost her powers—correction, since she had them taken away. It seemed like the only thing to do at the time, now, looking back, it was the worse thing she could have done.

She still had nightmares. Logan, Pyro, David's… they were still vivid, haunted her more than they ever did when her powers were there, they seemed to act like a buffer.

Logan had been right, and her reasons for getting rid of them had been very wrong. Besides, after the initial fun of not having them wore off, her relationship with Bobby didn't get any better, it actually got worse. And everyone in the school looked at her like a traitor.

She felt like one. So she did the only thing she could think of, she trained. She blamed the part of her that was Logan for that. She got up early, avoiding the stares from those around her, forgetting to listen to the murmurs of why she was still there, and she trained. She was getting good, better than she thought she would. She was proud, she never was that gifted at things, so being truly good at fighting, at surviving… she was proud. That pride, however, didn't overwrite the weakness that overcame her every time she thought about taking the easy way out.

She withdrew. From Bobby, Storm, Logan… everyone. She wasn't surprised when Bobby started to spend more time with Kitty, she didn't care either. Not when caring had cost her something she didn't realize the importance of, not until it was too late. She still felt that her powers were a curse, but she thought, after a long session of tears, that it was a curse she was given for a reason. She wouldn't have been given something that she couldn't have handled… right? She was strong enough to live with it, she was strong enough to use it for good, and she was strong enough to beat it. Right?

That was the final straw, and what lead to her leaving the mansion and going into the heart of the city, to Central Park, where anyone could be alone, even amongst the throngs of people. She liked it there, it was peaceful. No one looked at her as though she betrayed her genes, no one thought she was weak, no one thought she didn't belong…

"Rogue?"

She stopped and turned at the sound of her name, now the only one she insisted on being called. She wasn't Marie any longer; she could never be that girl, with those hopes and dreams…

"Magneto?" The older man sat, wearing regular clothes, at a chess set, his face sad and lost.

"I thought it was you."

She approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"Being human." He gave a sad laugh. "You don't need to look around, I am alone."

She understood how he felt, and, with shadows of his memories standing in the corners of her mind, she felt sorry for him.

She sat down. "So am I."

--

Tease I know, please R&R, and I will update with more.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine

Disclaimer: Not mine

Summary: Takes place after Last Stand. You can mostly pick it up as it goes from this point on.

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A Week later

"So then Logan yells at me for training with no safety on. He thinks I'm weak."

"And what do you think? Check."

She shrugged, "I dunno, I did give up, didn't I? I took the easy way out. I feel like a mutant failure. Check."

"Where did you learn to play?"

She grinned over the chessboard. "From you. I got your memories, some of them anyway, when you forced your powers upon me."

He sat back, a little unsettled at the prospect that she was in his head. "Really?"

"Yeah, a side effect of my powers. It's like everyone I touched left a shadow of themselves in my mind. I feel them lurking, just out of reach. I usually leave them be, there are some shadows in here, I do not want to visit too closely."

"Like mine?"

"Logan's mostly. I don't think it right, to know that much about him, even when his own memories are lacking."

He leaned forward, smiling. "You still have the memories of everyone you've touched. Rogue, you are one of the elite."

"What do you mean?"

"I have come to believe that this "Cure" we were all given, is only temporary. At least on those of us whom are powerful enough to overcome it. With your adaptability, I believe you may be one of them."

--

When she left Magneto, her mind was reeling with the prospect of gaining her abilities again. Was it true? Was it possible? Was he just playing with her?

A quick scan of the part of him within her assured her that he wouldn't kid about something like that, not with her. His shadow had become very fond of her; at least he didn't fight for control like the others did.

She was still coming to terms with the possibility when she entered the mansion that night, coming face-to-face with Bobby.

"Where were you?" He asked, arms crossed, face in a frown. "We were worried?"

She turned and faced him. "Why? Because I'm helpless?"

"That's not what I meant. You didn't answer you're phone."

"It died." She lied. Truth was, for the week that she had been sneaking off and talking to Magneto, playing chess in the park, she always turned her phone off, a part of her knowing full well that no one would like her talking to their former enemy. They wouldn't understand… she barely did herself.

She cleared her throat and those thoughts away, "What's up?"

Bobby's face broke into a grin. "Emma did it."

"Did what?"

He grabbed her hand, still gloved (some habits had refused to die with her powers), and led her through the empty corridors to the sublevel, where all the students had gathered, just outside the med lab.

Bobby edged his way through, leading Rogue with him. He pointed through the window, "She found Scott."

Rogue's jaw dropped. Everyone had thought that he had died everyone but Emma Frost, who had come to the mansion shortly after the school re-opened, with dreams of his survival. It didn't hurt that she and Scott had at one time been close, but that had been before Jean. But before her eyes was Scott Summers, laying asleep on the cold slab with Storm, Emma, Logan and Hank standing over him.

She moved away from the crowd, Bobby following her.

"How?"

Bobby shrugged. "She's been tracking him with Cerebro for months now, isn't it great?"

She nodded. "Yes. But are we sure that he's him? You remember what Moria said about the Professor…"

Bobby nodded, "I know. But Moria now thinks it was just a memory of the Professor; there hasn't been any activity from the man in the coma since." He paused. "What's wrong Rogue? I would have thought you would have been happier to hear that Scott is back."

"I am happy Bobby. Overwhelmed, but happy. It's about time that this place has gotten good news like this." She turned to go.

"Rogue…" there was something in his tone that stopped her.

She looked back at him. "Yes?"

"You wouldn't tell me where you go to if I asked, would you?"

"No."

"We're over aren't we?"

She sighed, stepping towards him. "Yes. We have been for a long time."

"That's what I thought. Just thought I would make sure. Where are you going?" He asked again as she started to leave. "You're leaving the mansion soon, aren't you?"

"Possibly."

--

More to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Not mine

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Summary: The cure may be temporary and Scott has returned and Onslaught may be on the way! Takes place after The Last Stand. Rogue's POV.

Chapter 3

The next morning she went to the Danger Room as she usually did. She wasn't surprised to find Logan leaning against the door, lit cigar in hand.

He looked up at her. "Didn't I tell you that you're access was cut?"

"Didn't anyone tell you cigars caused cancer?"

"I can't get caner."

She pulled the cigar out of his hand and stomped it out, "But I can. So, you going to move?"

"You're not afraid of me kid?"

"I've had you kicking around in my skull for years now; most of what makes you scary is gone now."

He looked taken aback. "Still? Even after you're powers were taken, you still have…"

She looked down. "Yup."

"Jesus Stripes, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Stripes?" She shrugged. "I didn't want anyone to look at me as though I was weaker than they already thought I was."

"Rogue."

"They do. You do too. You let Kitty do the same programs that you restrict me from." She shifted feet, looking down, "I'm kind of tired of everyone making me feel worse about this than I already do."

"Is that why you're leaving? Snowball told me."

"I'm not leaving for sure."

"But you're thinking about it." He shook his head. "You have to stop running from things Kid. There are moments when you have to stand up and fight."

"And there are moments when YOU have to stop thinking of me as that scared girl hiding in your trailer."

He smirked, "At least she was running towards something." He straightened, "So you coming?"

"Where?"

"To show me what you've learned."

--

She had heard stories about Emma Frost, and her days at the institute, and her reasons for leaving. Everything didn't add up, and it left Rogue, and some of the other students, with an uneasy feeling where Miss Frost was concerned. She watched the blonde woman casually from where she was.

Peter sat beside Rogue at the long cafeteria table. Even after her powers were gone, everyone stayed a distance away, and Rogue was beginning to be alright with that, especially if what Magneto said was right.

"Rogue? You look far away."

She smiled at the giant. Since becoming human the pair had become close and even though he didn't say why, the shadow on him within her head knew it was because he had felt sorry for her.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. How are you?"

"I am good. I heard you were training with Logan this morning. It's good to see you are coming around again."

"What do you mean?"

"You have a fire in you, under everything, it was there, burning. After you came back, I thought they took it along with the powers you had. I am glad that I was wrong."

She smiled at him. "Thank you Pete."

"I have a present for you." He held out a small box for her.

Curious, she took it and opened it. Inside was a silver chain, with a small turtle pendent. With a raised eyebrow she looked at him.

"There is a saying about turtles. You can live your entire life within your shell, but, even there, you are still a turtle."

She laughed, still not understanding.

With a gentle smile, he took the pendent and fastened it around her neck. "It means that you can live your life in fear and denial but you are still who you are, so, what is the point of being scared and denying it?" He straightened and looked at it. "You are still a mutant Rogue, it is your shell, do not hide behind that. Let it protect you and to help you grow."

"Thank you Peter."

"Come with me while I visit Scott."

--

The visit had been brief since Scott was still asleep and the number of people wanting to see him was large. After a few minutes, long enough for Peter to drop off a picture he had painted and to bestow words of a quick recovery, Emma ushered them out.

And as her hand, soft and graceful and manicured, brushed against Rogue's exposed arm, something within Rogue jolted to life and for a brief moment, thoughts and emotions flashed before her eyes.

"Did you see Miss Frost? She looked very pale for a moment."

Rogue froze and her heart stopped. Did she just...?

"Are you alright Rogue?"

Clutching her new piece of jewelry, she broke into a smile, "Yes, I think I am. Listen I have to go, I'll see you after supper."

--

Rogue rushed towards where Magneto sat, gently moving the pieces of the chess board back into place. She was out of breath when she stood opposite him.

"You said that the "Cure" was temporary. How do you know?"

Seeing the shinning pendent, he held out his hand and after a moment's effort, it lifted lightly off her chest. "Is this new?"

When he let it release she sat down, swallowing hard. "Then I did it, I actually did it."

"Did what?"

"I absorbed Emma. She touched me today and I felt her, inside me." The small smile she wore faded as what she had felt coming from the woman returned before her eyes. "Oh my god! The Professor!"

--

Hahaha… this is fun!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just letting them out to play

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Chapter 4

Magneto sat forward, "What about Charles?"

She swallowed hard, "I don't think he really died. Moria thought she heard him from inside the body of a comatose sociopath, but now she isn't sure."

Eric leant back, "So that's what that smile was all about."

"But when Emma touched me…"

"Emma? Emma Frost?"

She nodded.

Eric laughed.

"You know her?"

"Only by reputation. She is sly, I will give her that."

"She found Scott. We had all thought that the Phoenix had killed him, but she found him, after months of searching. No one is quite sure how."

"Something is missing."

She nodded, "Something important."

He stood up, "Come, there is some people you should meet."

Confused, she followed him, "What? Who? Where?"

--

An hour later she was standing in a warehouse, beside Magneto and a tall man whom looked a little like Scott, with the exception of the eyes, a demonic red on black, facing out towards a group of a dozen people, all looking lost and unsure of why they were there.

"My brothers and sisters," Eric began looking amongst the group, "We are all here because we are alike. We were mutants, and now are mutants lost without our birthright. Together we will regain what was lost; together we will help our kind. We have had a rare experience, we have lived in the shoes of those who hate us, and we have seen things from the other side. There is a chance to rid the world of their hatred; there is still a chance to find ourselves, when we again have our powers, able to walk amongst them again, without fear and hatred."

Rogue watched with an arched eyebrow. He wanted equality? She knew that humanity had changed him, she just didn't realize how much. And she wasn't sure if she should believe it.

As the crowd broke apart, Magneto and the man at his side walked with Rogue away from the others.

"Are you for real?"

"You doubt it?"

"You did try to use me to turn the world leaders into mutants. World domination has been your thing, it's hard to think of you as an equalitist now."

He grinned at her, "I have lived longer than you my dear, I have seen horrors that are impossible to forget, and I have seen change in nations and individuals. This change in me cannot really be that hard to imagine after the horrors I have myself brought to mutant and human kind alike." He gestured to those gathered around, "This is my way of making amends."

"You're helping all these people to re-discover their powers? Is it possible?"

"We are finding out." He looked to where a young woman stood, bidding Eric's attention. "Excuse me."

She looked at the man who was watching her intently. "What?"

"You're from Mississippi."

She broke into a grin at his heavy accent. "Louisiana?"

"Oui. I am Remy LeBeau, called Gambit to those who get in my way." He held out his hand.

Cautiously she shook his hand, "Rogue."

"You were an X-Man?"

She nodded, "Briefly. You?"

"I was a thief, still am, well, free lance mostly now. Mag's has told us about you. Your powers." He took a step forward, "You don't have to be afraid of us."

"I'm not." She was surprised to find she wasn't. Usually knowing that people knew what she could do, at least made her uneasy. Maybe she was coming out of her shell, so to speak. "What can you do?"

He held up a hand, within it was a playing card, as he concentrated it started to glow a pinkish gold. "I turn potential energy into kinetic. I make things go boom."

"Cool."

He let the charge fade, "It wasn't. The power grew too quick, I was too strong. I couldn't touch anything, anyone without being scared that I would hurt them."

"I know how that feels."

He smiled, "I know. That's why I'm telling you."

She swallowed hard, she was blushing. "So, you went and got the "Cure"?"

"Oui."

"Were you happy?"

"Non. I was empty."

"Incomplete."

"Oui."

"So how did you get hooked up with Magneto?"

"He caught me picking his pocket. He saw my eyes, and he knew."

"They didn't go away with your powers?"

"No. It was another reason I wanted the cure. They scare people."

"I kinda like them. Red is one of my favourite colours."

--

She returned to the mansion that night, with instructions to keep her eyes open for anything unusual going on. She was still unsure about Magneto's intensions, but decided that she could trust him, at least for the moment. At least until she got her powers back.

She found Peter sitting and drawing in the front room.

"You missed supper." He looked up, "I saved you some."

She sat beside him, "You're an angel."

He set his paper down, "You have been gone a lot. Why?"

"Have you ever felt that there was something you've had to see through, something that you know others wouldn't understand—something important?"

"Yes, coming here. My parents didn't want me to. I come from a small farm, where they didn't know what being a mutant was. They hated me there, my parents wanted to keep me safe. From those around us, from the world. But I thought I could be one of the ones to save it, the world, those who cannot save themselves."

"I think something is going to happen, something big. I don't know what or even if, but, all I know is that I have to be really for it. Just in case."

--

That night, after much of the mansion was asleep she made her way down to the sublevel, to where Scott slept, still unable to wake up. Rogue looked at him, if it wasn't for his breathing, she would have thought him dead. Maybe in his mind, he was…

Getting an idea, she shook her head. It was a bad idea, a very very bad idea. But she knew she was going to do it. Scott wore the goggles that he did while sleeping, just in case he woke up, to keep his optic beams in check. Beside his head were his glasses, the ones that were found at Alkaline Lake.

Cursing under her breath she put them on and removed a glove. Concentrating on her breathing she reached out with a shaking hand, and touched him on his exposed neck. For a moment nothing happened. Then, as she sighed with frustration, she felt it stir. Willing it forward, she held on, feeling the now long unfamiliar sensation of being filled from the inside out.

She was inside him; there was a wall. She was starting to break through it. She was now the one in the comma, she was now being whispered to, being told she was the only one strong enough to stop it. She was being told she was loved, that someone couldn't kill her; they could only hold her back. There was now a tingling behind her eyes. And now, there was pain…

They screamed together as she broke contact. She was flung to the ground, the glasses falling in the process. She could feel the beginnings of power that she could barely hold back. Confused as to who she was, Rogue darted away, leaving the med lab as Logan and Storm rushed in.

Sitting before them was Scott, sitting up, clutching his head, panting hard. He had just screamed her name, Jean's, as memories he wished he didn't have came rushing back to him. Ororo rushed to him and held him as he trembled and sobbed and remembered everything, everything except what was taken from him.

As Ororo comforted their long lost friend, Logan stood, looking to the ground where the glasses were, the undeniable scent clinging to the room, making him wonder, what the hell he was missing, and what Rogue had been doing down there.

TBC...

--

Very, very fun!

Please let me know how I'm doing on this one.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Not mine. They are just getting some exercise

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Chapter 5

Her head swam, and she was reminded of why she had hated her powers in the first place. Well, one of the reasons.

She pulled out her cell phone, searched through her contacts and hit send.

"Hello Chere," a Cajun voice called.

Why had she called him?

"Who am I?"

"Rogue, is this you?"

Tears started to run down her face, "I don't know. I touched someone, and they came back, my powers. They're coming back too fast… I don't know who I am."

The voice sat up, "Where are you?"

"I'm close to the Institute. Near Harry's Hideout. At a park."

"Stay there, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Forty minutes later, Rogue was feeling almost like herself, her memories had started to sort themselves out and a new shadow had formed; now it was just to get it to step back into the corners of her mind. Right then, it was watching her far too closely.

She looked up with Remy approached her. He paused.

"What?"

"You're eyes." He smirked, "They look a little like mine."

He closed the distance between them and sat beside her on the bench. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I think."

"What happened?"

"I touched Scott. There was this wall, and I broke through it. He's now awake, I think. There was so much pain there. Someone was trying to keep him asleep."

"Who?"

She shook her head, "I don't know." She reached up and rubbed her eyes, "I don't know how he can stand this constant itching."

"His powers?" She nodded, "Why not let them out?"

She blushed, "I want to hold onto them as long as I can… I know it sounds bad but, mine are gone again and they're comforting."

"Yours are coming back fast."

She nodded, "I know. Magneto thinks it's because my powers are adaptive in nature. I don't think his are even coming back that fast." She looked down; she could already feel the stolen powers beginning to fade. "Please don't tell him, Magneto I mean. Promise me that?"

"You want a thief to keep a promise? I can't remember the last promise I've kept."

"Gambit."

"What? No more Remy?" He sighed, "I won't tell Mag's. Not right yet anyway."

"Thank you. And thank you for coming too."

"I gave you that number so you would use it. Are you going home now?"

"Why are you giving me another option?" She raised an eyebrow. "Logan will have known by now that I was down there when Scott woke up. He'll be asking questions."

"What will you tell him?"

"Nothing. I'm going to hope that I get to answers before he can ask."

He studied her a moment. "Why are you doing this? Getting into this as much as you are? You don't even know for sure if something is going on."

"Even if I hid I would still be a turtle."

"What?"

"Never mind. Look, I was told that there were moments when people had to stop running and stand and fight. I've spent most of my life running. I've been given a second chance; I'm going to use it. Besides, I like to fight. And my instincts tell me there is something not right."

--

"This is my place." Gambit said as he turned on a light. It was small, and would have been messy if there was actually anything in it. There was a couch, a bed, a milk crate end table and television stand, a state-of-the-art HD wide screen television set and a mismatching table and chair set in his small kitchen area. "It isn't much."

"Its fine," she assured him.

"Back home I had an entire estate, well, it was my families, but would have been mine."

"Would have?"

"They disowned me." He shrugged. "So I left, and haven't looked back." He grinned, as thoughts came to him that would help take the attention off of him and onto lighter topics. "So you sleep on the right or left side of the bed?"

"Do you want to wake up or not Cajun?"

"Can't blame a man for trying can you?" Her raised eyebrow assured him that she could. "You're eyes are back to normal now."

"The power's gone."

"Are you going home tomorrow?"

She thought a moment before nodding, "I think I better."

"Not before Remy takes you some places first."

"Remy? Why are you talking in third person?"

His eyebrow rose, "So you would forget to call me Gambit and call me Remy instead."

--

In the morning Remy took Rogue to breakfast, mostly because he didn't bother to have food in his apartment.

"So," he asked as they finished the food, "You ever had a boyfriend?"

"Yes. Several."

"And they didn't mind your powers?"

"I only had one after my powers manifested."

"Is he why you got them taken away?"

Her blush told him that he was at least a part of it.

"What happened with him?"

"We broke up."

"Good."

"Good?"

He leaned forward, "If a man ain't imaginative enough to work around something like that, and make a girl make such a sacrifice for him, he really isn't a man."

"How can anyone work around not touching?"

He grinned, glad that she had asked. "I'll show you."

--

She hesitated outside the door. She couldn't believe that he had brought her here, and she couldn't believe that she was going to go in. And she couldn't help but wonder how much thought he had given her predicament.

He grabbed her gloved hand and pulled her inside. "Welcome to Night Magic, home of supplies to suit every sexual fantasy you can imagine." He declared proudly as they stood amongst handcuffs and nun costumes.

Smiling at her blushing face he led her to a back room. There among outfits of leather and bondage equipment were also outfits of mesh and lace, thin enough to feel as though you weren't wearing it and yet substantial enough to cover your skin.

Surprised, she looked at him.

His smile grew, "It's called Second Skin. Stuff is pretty good according to the girls out front. It comes in all colours and even has a hole in the crotch for…"

Her look cut him off.

"Wow," she allowed after a moment, "I never knew. I wonder if it really works."

"If you want someone to try it out on…"

"Did you really have to ruin this?"

"What are you thinking?" He asked her after a moment as he settled against the counter behind him.

"That there is a whole new world opening up for me. And not just sexually."

"Are you thinking about going back to your boyfriend?"

"Bobby? No."

He stood up, "Good. Come on, I'll take you home."

--

Gambit dropped her off outside the gates only when she promised him that she would call him if she needed anything.

Logan was running Kitty, Jubilee, Warren, Peter and Bobby through an advanced session on the lawn when Rogue entered the yard. All action stopped as they looked between the feral man and the woman whom had been missing all night.

"Rogue! Get over here!"

Swallowing hard she went to see him, trying to ignore the looks that the others were giving her.

"Yes?"

"Where were you last night?"

"Out. I don't need a babysitter Logan."

"What's his name Stripes? I can smell him on you."

She smiled, "Gambit."

She looked over and saw Bobby clench his fists. The air was getting colder.

"Gambit?"

"That's what he's called to people who don't like him. And by your face I know that you don't like him. Anything else?"

"Yeah, why were you in the med lab last night?"

"I went to see Scott. How is he?"

"Awake, surprisingly. You're hiding something."

"Learned it from you."

"I want an explanation."

"And as soon as I think of one you'll get it. But for now, I think I should shower, wash the swamp rat smell off of me."

--

When she entered the mansion she was instantly drawn into the parlor where a large group stood, watching a live feed from Scotland. It showed Moria's institute being destroyed, and a mutant rising above it, laughing. It then went to Moria; her face was dirty and bruised.

"We managed to get most of the patients out before it was destroyed. We will be entering New York airport tonight. Thank you again for offering the facilities to us."

Storm smiled through the screen at the woman. "You know that you are always welcome here. Any idea yet, who was responsible for this?"

The Scottish woman shook her head. "No idea of a true identity, but he did call himself 'Onslaught' though."

In the back of her mind, a shadow's thoughts cringed. With effort, she pulled from the shadow a memory, one that made Rogue flee the room, pull her cell phone out and dial.

"Hey Gambit, its Rogue. Can you meet me at Harry's Hideout as soon as you can? And Gambit, bring Eric."

She hung up and turned, surprised to see Emma looking at her, with a raised eyebrow. Rogue swallowed hard, willing her thoughts to be quiet and with gloves off, hoped that her powers wouldn't let her down should she need them.

--

TBC. And thank you to everyone who have reviewed thus far.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: still not mine. I'll keep you posted though.

Chapter 6

Emma watched her for a moment, an eyebrow raised, "Are you feeling alright Marie dear? You look pale."

"Rogue."

"What?"

"My name, its Rogue."

Emma broke into a smile. "But you aren't a mutant dear," she paused, her smile fading. "Or are you?"

Rogue could feel the icy fingers of Emma Frost, edging their way into her brain too late to even try to push her back out. Against her will, glimpses of the past week came to the surface, right where Emma could see. Not everything, just enough to make Emma suspicious.

"Get out!" She cried, pushing against Emma's pushing; forgetting in the struggle that she wasn't wearing her gloves, she resorted to physical pushing. Clammy, frightened hands touched chilled smooth arm, and after a moment, Rogue could hear her, in her head, memories shouting along with the piece of her powers still in Rogue's mind.

As soon as it released itself, Rogue withdrew.

Her skin felt like glass, smooth and cool, almost see-through, but stronger than glass, she felt delicate and yet unbreakable, distant and cold, but connected to everyone around her. So this was how Emma felt every moment. Her diamond skin truly did give her an edge.

She looked to Emma. The older woman was holding her head, confusion filling her features. "What happened? What am I doing here?"

Rogue watched in surprise for a moment, before seeing a shadow begin to fall over the woman's crystal-like eyes once more. As she watched it, there was a memory of a voice in her own head, one that had the familiar ring of her very own Professor, only dark, only…

"Rogue?"

Rogue looked up; at least, a part of her was Rogue she thought, somewhere within the growing darkness within her mind. Bobby was looking between the pair.

"Can I talk to you a minute?"

Emma excused herself, still weak and unsure, and made her way upstairs, leaving Rogue alone with the Iceman.

She shook her head, trying to clear it, "What do you want Bobby, now isn't the time."

"Going to meet your new boyfriend?" His tone was bitter, not that Rogue could blame him, as much as she would have liked to.

"He's not my boyfriend Bobby."

"So you're just sleeping with him then?"

She couldn't deal right, not with him accusing her, while she was trying to figure out who, exactly she was. Her mind was chaos at the moment, the shadows had started to react, started to step away from the corners, trying to find the light.

"What the hell is your problem? Nothing happened. And besides, at least I waited before finding somebody else!" Everything fell silent, outside, and within.

Her eyes were focused on the floor, she couldn't look up, she didn't want to see the pained realization that would be on his face.

"Rogue," he took a step forward, moving to grasp her hand, hurt when she pulled it away from him, "That was only a kiss… it was a mistake."

The tone in his voice was not something she wanted to deal with, not then. Maybe, she thought, I'm not as done running away as I had thought.

She rushed by him, "I really have to go."

--

Gambit was waiting for her outside of Harry's Hideout, a safe haven where mutants were granted immunity and were treated the same as anyone else. He was filling the tank of his motorcycle.

She rushed up to him, ignoring the curious, maybe even worried, expression that he wore. "Where is he?"

He gestured behind him. "Inside. He took a cab. Are you alright?"

She shook her head, "I'm getting there. I touched someone else. But... I'm starting to think I know what's going on."

"So do I," an angry and hurt voice said behind her.

She closed her eyes; she should have noticed the temperature drop in the summer air. She turned, "Bobby, what are you doing here?"

Behind her, Gambit snickered, "So you're Bobby, no wonder she turned you in."

Bobby's fists clenched, ice starting to cover his body, "Bobby! Don't do this here."

Gambit, pulling a retractable Bo staff from his bike, stepped around Rogue, glad for a little exercise. "Its okay Chere, I won't hurt him, too much."

She rolled her eyes as they circled each other, not sure of how to stop them short of touching, and she didn't want to have either of the two men's minds rattling around inside of her own. It was crowded enough.

"So you're Gambit."

"You've heard of me? Oh, Gambit is touched."

"You talk in third person?"

"Only to piss you off."

"Trust me, you didn't need any help."

Gambit straightened, with a large smile, knowing just how to get under his skin. "So tell me, Homme, did she always murmur in her sleep or is that something new?"

Rogue closed her eyes as Gambit dodged an ice spear that was aimed at his head, only to loose his balance on the newly iced ground. Recovering, he threw a handful of dirt into Iceman's eyes, trying to buy himself enough time to charge the cards he was even then pulling from the deck he wore on his belt.

She turned away, "This can't get any worse."

It did.

For standing before her was a very angry Logan.

"Well fuck."

Before Gambit could release the cards and before Iceman had the dirt cleared from his eyes, both men were aware of a set of claws poised under their chins.

"You better stop whatever it is you're doing there Bub," he told Gambit, and without taking his eyes off of the man whose scent was all too familiar to him, he addressed Bobby, "Go home Bobby."

"But he..."

"GO HOME!" Logan growled in a way that left Bobby no doubts that next he would be saying it with his claws.

Rogue walked towards the pair and moved so that she stood between the two men. "Logan," she began.

"Protecting your new boyfriend Stripes?"

"He's not my boyfriend Logan. Please, just walk away."

He paused a moment, thinking of all the reasons that he would not be doing as she asked, and as he took in a deep breath, ready once more to put the smug man behind her in a hole in the ground, a scent that he could never forget washed over him. "Magneto."

Rogue and Gambit exchanged a worried look, before running after Wolverine, entering the bar in time to see Logan with his claws mere centimeters away from Magneto's neck and Magneto, leaning back into his chair, the table sitting a foot away on its side, sweating from the effort to keep the situation from changing.

Rogue once again rushed forward and stood between Wolverine and his target. "Logan! Don't."

He glared at her through the strain of trying to beat Magneto's even limited powers, "We'll aren't you getting sweet on everyone these days."

She would have cracked a grin if she thought for a moment he wasn't in the mood to kill. She side stepped closer to the growing gap between his claws and Magneto's neck, until she was almost in between them. "Please stop and listen to me, unless you want to stab me through again."

He faltered at that, at the reminder of how close he had brought her to death, and in return how close she had brought him. He did as she asked, with a sneer and with a swear. "This better be good."

She turned to Eric, who was sitting weakly holding onto his neck, "Who is Onslaught?"

After a moment Eric looked at her, and a small laugh escaping his throat.

--

There is a lot more to this story than I had originally intended. I had thought this would be around 10 parts, now its looking to be a few more.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: If only they were mine… but they aren't. Probably not even all of the idea, because original ideas don't really exist anymore.

Summary: Logan and Rogue are bringing foxes into the hen house. Shit is likely to hit the fan.

Chapter 7

Logan shook his head as he led the way into the institute, the three others close behind him. But Rogue had been right, and not killing Magneto may have actually saved them all. Now it was the trick of getting the others to listen with no one getting hurt.

Maybe he could throw Gambit in front of their powers? He snickered despite himself. It was tempting, especially considering how he was looking at Rogue. The Snowball was bad enough, now she had to get involved with someone who reeked of Magneto. Well, the girl never did have much taste in men; she did after all have a crush on him at one point.

He looked back at them when he paused outside the door, "Keep the Magnet close between you two, and hope that Snowball isn't near."

He inhaled, and went in, fists clenched, claws almost itching to come out and play.

"Gambit," he heard Rogue say from behind him, "Don't hurt anyone. Even Bobby."

He grinned as he heard the man, smelling a lot like Gumbo and the places in New Orleans that sold it, as well as a lot more questionable items, as he gave into her. The Cajun sure had it bad.

So far, so good. Everyone was still in the parlor, watching news feeds and discussing the events of Scotland with Moria whom had just arrived with Henry. That was going to change in 30 seconds.

Storm was the first to notice them. "Logan… Magneto!"

Well, Logan thought as both he and Rogue stood before the two men, maybe only 20 seconds.

He looked around. The younger students had been ushered out by Moria and Hank, and facing them was only Storm, Cyclops, Colossus, Shadowcat, Iceman, Angel and Jubilee. Beside him Rogue was taking off her gloves.

"Get back," Scott commanded, the vein in his forehead started to throb, "Let me blast him!"

"Nice to see that death has mellowed you," Logan growled.

Rogue was looking around, "Where's Emma?"

"She went to lay down. She had a headache."

Rogue scoffed, "Yeah right." She looked to her right, "Peter, do you trust me?"

He nodded, "Always."

She smiled at him, "Find Emma, and bring her down here. Don't let her get into your head."

"What is this about?"

"Whose side are you on?"

"What's HE doing here?"

Rogue shot Bobby a look, "We bring Magneto here, and you're worried about Gambit?"

"I feel special."

A breeze was filling the room, starting to toss things around. Around Storm, whose eyes were completely white, the air was beginning to grow static. She was frowning. "What is going on?"

"I can explain." Rogue assured her, in a hurried tone.

"Do it quickly."

Leaving out details about her powers she told them of how she found Magneto and how she suspected Emma and how she thought the Professor was still alive, in a matter of speaking.

As she finished, Peter returned, "Emma is gone. Her stuff is gone and there is no sign of her on the grounds."

Rogue glanced at Magneto, "I wish I had have been wrong about her."

"She would have been useful," Magneto allowed, "But she was always weak against Charles' powers."

"Pardon my intrusion," Hank tried as politely as possibly, ever a politician, "But, for those of us not already aware of the details, would you be so kind as to tell us what is it we're missing?"

The X-Men, still uneasy as to having Magneto in their house, allowed the newcomers to sit, Rogue and Logan still hovering around them, aware of the tension in the room.

"Now," Scott began, "Who the hell is onslaught?"

"Onslaught is the name given to the little piece of darkness that Charles believed to live in everyone, even in the best of souls, even in his own. Especially in his own. He once confessed to me that he found it difficult to hold it back sometimes, and he feared that it would get the best of him. Defying it... well, it was one of the factors that led him being confined in that chair. He dedicated years to controlling it. He said I let mine win."

"What does this have to do with Moira's institute?" Kitty asked.

"The man whom I thought Charles was in, was a sociopath," Moira began, her mind clicking together the pieces that Rogue hadn't and that Magneto had just begun to understand, "The kind of power that would have taken to transfer his consciousness into another mind, it would have left him weak. Sociopathic tendencies are caused by a defect within the brain chemistry itself. So by Charles trying to integrate his own consciousness into a mind like that, in as weak of state that he was in--it could stand to reason that..." she couldn't finish.

"It is Charles' Onslaught we are now seeing. That was in Scotland; that is now on the move." Magneto finished for her.

Gambit looked at the worried faces around him, "Exactly how bad is this?"

All eyes came to rest once again on Moria, "Charles was one of the strongest telepaths in the world. He could change the thoughts of an entire nation with Cerebro's help; he could hear the thoughts of people half across the world without it if he's listening for it. This power, even if only a fraction of this power, is now in the brain of someone with no regard for people, no emotions, and no empathy of any kind. This is very bad. I can't think of many people who have power enough to stop him."

Scott swallowed hard, "The only one I can think of was Jean."

It was Kitty's turn to swallow hard, "So, what do we do?"

Storm stood up, torn between duty and standing up to the man who had given her the key to her abilities. But it seemed to her, that she was getting better at battling her former friends. "We stop him, together."

"I don't understand," Bobby said after a silent moment, "How does Miss Frost fit into this, and what the hell was Rogue doing with Magneto."

"And how come he still has his powers?" Logan grumbled, still bitter at that. His skeleton still felt like it was attracting all the pins and scissors in the place.

This last statement drew the attentions of the entire room to him. He smirked again, "It appears for some of us lucky mutants, the "Cure" was only temporary. Even now my powers are strengthening."

"How..."

He shrugged, "That I still do not know. But I believe that your dear Rogue holds a key to that. Her powers are returning at an amazing rate. More so than any other mutant I've seen."

Rogue could feel all eyes shifting to her: just as she also felt Gambit moving closer to her. She wasn't sure why he did it, but she was grateful.

"Your powers are back?"

She shrugged, not able to look up at them, "Getting there. They come and go."

Magneto stood, his tone is getting serious, "I have known Charles most of my life, and I am aware of what he hid, what is now threatening mutant and human kind alike. I say its time to stop him."

"Stop him? We can't even find him."

"And why should we trust you?"

A self-assured smile filled his aging face, a flicker of his former self filling his features once more. He picked up his helmet, and held it up in a magnetic shield, "Because, I think I have a way to stop him."

--

Okay, so I must admit that I love ending things on this type of note, and will continue to do so with EVERY chapter. Because, I'm a dick. Hahaha. I'm really looking forward to the next 2 chapters and so they will be posted very soon.

Please R&R, it's like my crack.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Still not mine. And it makes me a little sad inside.

Summary: Okay, I think that this chapter needs a little explaining—it does contain a few spoilers for what is in the chapter, so I have decided to post it at the end of the chapter. Please read it, especially if you aren't familiar with the comics.

Chapter 8

_"Because I think I have a way to stop him."_

Rogue's head was reeling as she was lead down to the med lab, Gambit close in toe. Magneto didn't reveal his plan, at least not all of it. All he had said at first was for Moria to work on a way to reverse the "Cure", and for Scott and Bobby and Kitty to begin work on duplicating his helmet.

It was all real, all of it. Emma was on Onslaught's side, even if by force, and Onslaught was no longer a part held by the Professor's subconscious. Magneto was really leading them, and she was going to help reverse the "Cure".

She was pacing back and forth as she waited for Gambit to get done his exam. She had gone first, and she anxiously awaited news, but, not knowing what else to do, she had waited behind, she told herself it was to see if there was anything else she could do to help. But she could feel the shadows doubting it.

She was surprised when Scott came through the door. "Hello Rogue, where's Moira? She wanted to see me."

She pointed to behind the glass door where Moira stood with Gambit, who looked as though he had seen a ghost.

--

Gambit had asked her to come with him as he followed Scott to the main level, where, after being joined by Storm and Moira, they sat in the Professor's study.

Scott spoke first. "Are you sure?" He asked. No one could remember him looked so disheveled, not since Jean died.

"Trust me, I checked it twice."

Ororo looked between the pale men before focusing on Moira. "What's going on?"

Moira broke into a smile, "I found something unusual when I checked Mr. LeBeau's blood. I found a 13 point match with the DNA of Mr. Summers. To be sure, I also checked it against the sample we have on file for Alex Summers. They both matched"

"And what does that mean?"

Her smile widened as she looked at the two confused faces of the women before her, "It means they're related; brothers, to be precise." She shut the folder in her grasp and again looked between the two men. "I'm sure you two will want to get to know one another, I'll return to the lab and see what I can find with Rogue's samples."

Storm looked at Scott, "I never knew you had another brother."

He shook his head. "I thought it was a dream." He whispered, before looking at Remy. "Do you remember anything about our parents?"

"Non." Remy swallowed hard. In the span of ten minutes his entire world had changed. Everything was different. Everything. "I was found in New Orleans, as a toddler, and was raised by the man who had found me. My first memory was of my brother Henri trying to steal my birthday cake."

He nodded. "I was 10 when it happened. It was a plane crash. The plane was going down, and Mom and Dad gave a parachute to me and my brother, Alex, who was 6 at the time. They kissed us goodbye and sent us out, promising us they would find us again, and telling me to look after him until we were together again. The shute didn't go off right, and we fell too fast. We caught up in a tree; Alex was safe in the shute. But I fell, and I hit my head. I damaged the part of my brain that let me control my powers. I suppose if I could control them, my eyes would look like yours..." he cleared his throat, getting back on track, "Anyway, that's how I always remembered it, for years. And yet, it always felt like something was missing. I dreamed of you, of my mother holding onto you, of Dad helping her on with another parachute, the only other one there was, and I dreamt of him crying and kissing her and you goodbye."

Remy didn't look up from his lap.

Not knowing what else to do, Rogue reached over and grabbed one of his hands. He was grateful. "What happened after the plane?"

"We don't know. Alex and I were found, and sent to live with our grandmother. No one ever spoke of mom and dad or of you again." The men, the strangers, the brothers now reunited, looked at each other, "I'm sorry I never looked for you."

--

Rogue was glad that she had her own room. It was quiet, and spared her the details of the gossip that had already spread throughout the students. There was another Summers. Gambit had spent the rest of the day with Scott, calling Alex, and their grandparents. Rogue didn't have to wonder what it was like to have a whole new, strange world open up and consume you. She knew every time she touched someone, when they came into her own mind, taking it over.

She was glad that she wasn't Gambit in that moment. And she was glad that she was by herself. She hadn't really gotten a moment to herself since she had met Magneto in the park. How much life can change in one week. Okay, so maybe she was a little like Gambit.

So intent on enjoying the time to herself, she was surprised when she saw an outline of a man against the window.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked, glad that she had looked around before changing.

The shadow shrugged, "I didn't know where else to go, Chere."

"Gambit…"

"Non, Chere. My name isn't really Gambit, and it isn't even Remy LeBeau. It is Christopher Summers, Jr." He didn't look at her, but even then the glow of his eyes gave him away.

"It's a good name." She allowed, sitting down. "But, you don't strike me as a Christopher."

"And I'm a Yankee."

She couldn't help but laugh at the sorry sound he had made. She sighed when he looked up. "Listen, I'm no expert on anything, but it seems to me that the name you are given and where you are born doesn't end up making you who you are, they don't define you. Look at me. I wasn't named Rogue, by anyone but me, and I'm anything but a Southern Lady and hardly a Southern Bell. Besides, you don't talk like no Yank."

"So what am I then?" He asked sitting beside her on the bed. "I'm not who I was born, not who I was raised, and I'm doubting if I am who I have been; I'm not a mutant, and I'm not human. What am I, truly?"

"A pain in the ass?"

"That's not a help."

"But it's a truth. You'll figure it out. I haven't known you very long, but I know that you have it in you to be anything you want. What do you want?"

He leaned closer to her, "To take you to bed."

She stood, "See, a pain in the ass." She crossed her arms, taking a step back, glad for some distance.

He watched her, "Why are you pushing me away?"

"Why are you trying to get so close?"

"I like your fire."

"I don't like being burned."

He looked at her, his eyes earnest. "Can I stay here Rogue? No fire, no burning, no pushing? I don't want to be alone tonight. I find comfort with you, you remind me of home."

She gave in. For once she didn't run, didn't rationalize, didn't hide. She realized then that needed comfort as much as he did.

In silence they laid down on her bed, making sure that no skin touched, Rogue put her head on Gambit's chest, and listened to his breathing as he held her close.

"Remy," she began after a moment, her fingers playing with her hair that was across his chest, "Do you ever think we did the right thing? In getting the cure?"

"Do you?"

She shrugged. "Before I got it, I thought it was the best thing I could do. I had memories of all the things I could never do, all the things that were a million years away from me. I just wanted to have the things that everyone else took for granted. Once I got the cure, I felt like a traitor, like I turned my back against my birthright. I felt like I could conquer this, that I could beat it back from being a curse, and mould it into being a gift. But now, as it's coming back, I'm reminded of all the things I'll lose."

"What about the second skin?"

"What about kisses on foreheads and whispers in ears? What about not having to watch for every minute to see if that someone is coming too close to that bare patch of skin by your belt, and not having to see everyone you know keep an arms length distance just because you have a hole in your glove? What about not feeling so utterly alone?"

He held her closer to him, "I'm scared that if I do get my powers back, I'll loose control again. I almost took off a man's arm before, without even touching him. Magneto thinks he can help me control it."

"Do you trust him?"

She felt him shrug, "I owe him a lot." He was breathing into her hair, she liked the feel, she liked being close to someone. Bobby was always too scared, after that first taste of her powers. "Listen Rogue, I ain't saying that the life you're facing ain't going to be hard, that there won't be moments where you feel like giving it all up, but I am saying that you aren't alone. You have Wolverine and everyone here looking out for you." He paused, swallowing hard, "And I'll be here for you. I promise."

She looked at him, "I thought that you didn't keep promises, Cajun."

He smiled, "Some times, making a promise is worth the risk of breaking it. I'll try Chere, will you?"

--

Summary: So back in the early 90's of the comics there was hints of there being a third Summer's brother (for those who aren't familiar with the comic Scott Summers has a younger brother named Alex who is on-again-off-again with the X-Men under the code name Havok). There were lots of rumors over who it could be, but this story line, to my hearts bitter disappointment, was never finished, at least to my being aware. I always thought it was Gambit, because Gambit is adopted, his powers were similar to Cyclops, they look a lot alike and well… they hate each other's guts. Smells like siblings to me!

So, this chapter was my homage to that storyline, Scott's history and well, how I always wanted it to go.

Please R&R, I like it.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Summary: Takes place after X3. Trying to merge the best story lines from the comics (and some that never got finished) with the movie verse. I just hope that it's enjoyable.

Chapter 9

He watched her as she slept; his arms still around her. She seemed peaceful. He hoped that he was at least a part of the cause of it. He didn't know why he did it, promised her what he did. Hell, he didn't know why he had taken as a deep of interest in her as he did. Well, he would have liked to have not known. The truth, the hint of truth, was just too terrifying; and it was trying to look him square in the face.

So instead of looking at it, he watched her instead. He would have liked to think that he had seen her before, back down South, back before both their individual worlds came crashing down upon them. Maybe he did, when they were kids. Maybe he had seen her at Mardi Gras, and maybe he had tried to steal her heart if not her money.

There was something about her, the way she looked into people, saw them for what they were, and didn't ask for any justification; she didn't judge. If she didn't like what she saw, she kept it to herself. He guessed it came from a lifetime of not liking herself, and now years of other people not liking her as well.

She was strong. He could see it, and from the way she was carrying herself, he knew that she was beginning to see it herself.

He smiled, his empathy, slowly coming back, picking up on her peaceful mindset. He hoped she was having kind dreams, and as much as he hated to admit it, he hoped that she was dreaming of him. With his smile fading, he thought back to the promise he made her, hating himself for it, hating that he would have to break it… hating that she would hate him for making it. If only she knew…

He looked at her lips, full and soft and inviting, wondering just how much he was willing to damn himself.

Knowing that she would hate him sooner or later, and knowing that sooner would hurt him less, and with a whisper of apology he leaned into her, wiping her hair from her face, and trying to imprint the memory of her smell, he gently pressed his lips against hers, awaiting the pull that he imagined would come.

--

She was dreaming. Then she was falling. Then she was lost.

She was Gamit, and Remy, and the unknown Christopher, all fighting for the right to belong within her. She was a little boy with demon eyes being yelled at and thrown stones at. She was a child being watched over by her father, trained relentlessly how to fight and steal; feeling lost and like nothing she did was ever good enough. She was an adolescent with a girl, blonde and beautiful and deadly, and yet, she didn't love her, not like either of them deserved, despite having the ring waiting patiently in her pocket. She was a young man loosing control, fighting, pushing against everyone, afraid and angry. There was a shadow, a hand, a promise of control. There was pain, and then the burning started to subside. Then there was a tunnel, a task, a price that had to be paid. She wasn't alone, there are others with her, looking to her to lead them. Sabertooth was there, threatening her life. There is death in the tunnel, innocent screams, so much blood, all on her hands. Sabertooth is laughing, trying to maul a child, and she is able to stop it. But it is the only life she can save.

There is booze and women and hatred and fights and her own blood, washing the other blood away. But she doesn't care. She doesn't deserve life; she went against her own kind, she betrayed innocent mutants. Then, there is the "Cure", and with it, hope. There is guilt and knowledge of how her powers brought about what happened in the tunnels, what happened to those mutants, what she caused… Magneto is there now, in the pain that comes from having her head empty of other people's emotions, of still being the demon in everyone's eyes. He offers to help. He says there is a way. She jumps at the chance, knowing that what was missing, wasn't her powers, but her soul. She just wanted to have the fire her powers caused back, then, maybe she would come back to life.

Then there is Rogue. And Magneto telling her that Rogue is the key. She watches her; offers to be there should the girl need her. She feels bad, using the girl, but all she wants, all she cares for, is her powers back. She didn't care what Magneto did with his, and she didn't care what happened to Rogue… she only wanted what was hers, and maybe a little fun.

--

Rogue woke. The first thing after realizing that she was indeed herself, she noticed was that Gambit was gone. It was early; the sun was barely above the horizon.

She swallowed hard; trying to sort through all her thoughts, sifting through Gambit's, trying to decide if she should pity him or hate him. Putting that decision aside, she decided to hate someone else first.

--

The older students and the staff was up when Rogue stalked to where they had gathered, in the War Room talking about the latest news developments concerning Onslaughts whereabouts, and Emma's.

They looked up at her, alarmed at the darkness that covered her eyes.

"Stripes?"

"Rogue, where is Remy?"

"He's probably on his third pint by now." She told Scott as she passed him, her eyes not leaving Magneto. Skills that weren't her own sent him stumbling into the wall, where she grabbed him, one hand holding him against the cold surface, the other, bare, poised, and ready to strike out.

"Well, My Dear, you are looking a lot more demon eyed today. And where is Mr. Lebeau?"

"Shut up you Son of a bitch!"

The others were edging closer. She ignored them; she ignored everything, except the hate, except the betrayal.

"You used me! So you could get your powers back!"

He cocked an eyebrow, "Did you not use me? So you could get yours?"

"What do you really want? I sure as hell know that you don't want equality, and don't you dare use your powers against me!" She saw his grin fade. She studied him, it striking her odd that he was breathing harder than normal. Following his gaze to where it rested on her bare fingers, she knew that even he feared her. She had almost killed him, with only a touch; and he knew that a part of him was still inside her. Rogue grinned, as inside her head, she let the shadow out to play. "What's wrong Eric? Afraid that I will get inside you again? Afraid that you will be imprisoned again in a way that you can never get out of?

"You are still just that little boy, being torn from his mother's arms." Her voice dropped, something inside of her clicking, liking the way his eyes widened at the reminder of his mutation's beginning, "You still dream about it, it wakes you up at night. You can still hear the screams of death around you; you can still smell the rotting corpses. It haunts you. I know you Eric, I know what you fear and that you dream of revenge, not only for the crimes of now, but for the crimes of the past, that to a child's eyes can never be repaid. And I was stupid for thinking you could have really changed that much."

"I am not here because of you, Child. But I owe a debt to Charles. That is why I'm here."

"Then what? Once you have your powers back?" She waited for an answer that didn't come. Swallowing hard she nodded, knowing that he wouldn't tell her, "I guess I'll have to find out for myself."

She reached forward and lightly brushed her fingers against his skin.

--

There was fire within her. Something was going very, very wrong.

When she next opened her eyes she was laying on a bed, with sensors on her arms and chest, in the med lab, with Moira standing at a nearby table.

"What's going on? How long have I been down here?"

"Four hours." Moira turned, her expression grave. "For someone who tried to get rid of her powers, you certainly are using them an awful lot these days."

She tried to move, only to be filled with pain. Something was wrong, she felt like glass. "What's happened to me?"

"It took me a while to figure it out. It became a little clearer when I tried to take a blood sample," she showed Rogue a needle. It was mangled; it looked as though someone had tried to shove it through a brick wall, and the wall had won. "You did it."

"What?"

"It took specific tests on Mr. LeBeau, who for some reason took both Scott and Ororo to convince to return, to find out a possible explaination. Rogue, it seems that your powers are mutating."

--

Sorry that this chapter is so short, the next one will make up for it, promise.

Thanks for all the reviews, please keep them coming, I like how they inspire me to keep on writing this.

And thank you to gambitfan85 (I hope I got that right) for the comic's version of the third Summer's brother. Though, if you ask me, Gabriel sounds like a dick.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Not mine. Still.

Chapter 10

She sat with the other X-Men and Magneto and Gambit, looking at Moira in the War Room.

"Stem cells are blank cells, undefined; they can be used by any number of body systems. Most people lose stem cells when they reach a certain level of development. Every cell becomes defined and keeps a singular purpose. Rogue still has a surprising number of active stem cells, a large number of which are clustered in the part of the brain we believe responsible for mutant abilities. I believe that these cells are what give her her powers. Every person she touches triggers these cells to makes copies of the cells that they come in contact with. Possibly through electrical currents linking skin cells with neurons…

"Anyway," she said, forgetting the neuroscience and returning to the subject at hand. "Thanks to samples from Mr. LeBeau, it appears that the "Cure" didn't wipe the mutant DNA out, but rather suppressed it, made it so that proteins suppressed that section of DNA from being activated. The memory of that DNA survived. And for Rogue, a memory of every power she has taken also lies within that DNA, also dormant. Now, I have found a protein, undefined, in both Rogue and Mr. LeBeau that is acting to restart transcription of the dormant DNA. It is slow acting but by the time the body replaces all of its cells, these mutant's powers will once again be at full strength.

"I believe that Rogue's extra supply of stem cells have taken on some of the task, speeding up the process as it were, by increasing protein and DNA synthesis. I'm still unsure why." She looked around, the proud smile she had wore fading. "Now, consider for a moment the trillions of cells that we all have in our bodies, all with the same DNA. Mutations on an individual cell and organ basis is actually quite frequent. I believe that such a mutation has occurred with Rogue. I have reason to believe that the memories of power she has dormant in her DNA, is being transcribed along with her own DNA."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning Peter, that the powers she absorbed, or even interactions and mutinous versions of the powers she has absorbed, are being thought by her body, to be her own. And, as we all have noticed as of late, the number of powers she has absorbed, is quite vast."

Storm looked at the girl becoming woman. Rogue wouldn't meet the glance. "What can she do?"

Moira shrugged, "That has yet to be tested for sure. But so far invulnerability is among the potentially long list. My recommendation is that she avoids contact with anyone else until we know that her powers have once again settled, and if any powers she will absorb will also be hers permanently. I would like someone to run her through tests, to see what else she is capable of."

Logan, his face blank looked from Rogue to the Scotswoman. "I'll do it."

"What about reversing the "Cure"?" Eric asked after a moment's silence.

"I still have a few more tests to run the proteins through first. I would like to test it on Mr. LeBeau before we think to give it to you."

"Why do I get to be the lab rat?"

"Because, Mr. LeBeau, I would rather you receive your powers than Magneto. At least until we know for sure we can trust him."

--

Rogue avoided everyone's eye as she left the briefing. She felt dirty, evil, as though she was the puppy who had peed on the floor, and was just waiting for someone to notice to give her her beating.

Remy walked after her, "Chere?"

She shot him a look before speeding up, "Go away."

He caught her hand, only to have her swing it, slapping him across the face. It shouldn't have been hard enough to send him to the floor. When he looked up, surprised, blood was trickling out of his mouth.

"We adding strength to the super power list then?" Logan asked, walking past them, shaking his head.

"Gambit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay Chere." She helped him to his feet, "I wanted to apologize, for touching you. I had no right."

Her eyes burned hot as she looked at him, even having him close to her was triggering his memories to flash behind her eyes. His persona in her head was being difficult, "No, you didn't! I've had you running through my head all morning!"

He cracked a smile, "You sure that was from your powers, Chere?"

Her jaw dropping and she blushed despite her wishes not to. With fists clenched she looked to the floor, "Why did you come back? Why did you make me see those things?"

He shrugged, as he staggered to his feet. "I'm in your head, you tell me?"

When she looked into his eyes, he had wished that she hadn't. She knew, and she hurt because of it. And yet she was still trying not to judge.

"To make me hate you, before I did it for myself. Here's the thing Gambit, I've seen what happened through your eyes, through your own emotions… remembering what I saw through my own eyes—well, I don't think anyone could hate you as much as you hate yourself. And that's a difference that only you can change."

She left him, walking towards where Logan was waiting for her further down the hall.

"You okay Stripes?"

"Getting there... Wolvie."

"Wolvie?"

She smiled at him before she went into the women's locker room, "I had to find something as annoying as 'Stripes'."

--

They met outside the Danger room once they had changed into uniform. As she had changed she had thought a lot. Not just about Gambit's self hatred, not just about her mutation, and not just about Magneto's ever present threat. But how they all came together in her mind. She looked at Logan as she approached him, he had always been truthful to her, even in moments when the truth killed, he gave it, because he also knew that the truth also healed.

"Logan, do you think it's true? That everyone has evil in them, hiding in their subconscious?"

"Yes, some of us have more than others, and some of us don't bother to hide it either. What's wrong? You were never that good at hiding from me."

"I blame your nose," she allowed before looking to the ground. Somehow, not seeing how others judged her words made it easier to be honest. "I have a lot of subconsciouses in my head, sometimes they ain't too quiet about it. So, by the Professor's reasoning, that means I have a lot of evil in there, on top of my own. Logan, I can feel myself changing. I feel darker; I think I'm starting to get a taste for it. I'm starting to get a thrill out of taking things from people... of trying them on. And I don't like that. I don't want to be the evil I see in the shadows of my mind."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "You'll find a balance, somewhere between light and dark, where you can see everything perfect."

"Just so long as I don't see in as much dark as you do."

She smiled at him when they entered the Danger room, surprised to find Peter, Kitty and Bobby already there, in uniform.

"What are you three doing?" Logan asked.

Kitty beamed, "We're helping."

"They're helping," Bobby admitted, "I was hoping to get a rematch with Gambit."

Rogue rolled her eyes, then noticed, to her surprise, that he wasn't there. "Where is he?"

"Moira wanted him for some more tests. She thinks she has mastered the protein synthesis. She's thinking of calling it the 'Rogue' protein. She hopes that everything will go good enough that she can give him treatment tomorrow. Onslaught is on the move, and Storm is afraid that if we don't go to him soon," Kitty broke off looking to Peter who smiled down at her kindly.

"He may come to us." Peter finished for her. "Which is why it is important that we help. We need all the help we can get."

Bobby held up the pad that he was holding, "Moria wants us to take notes."

Logan nodded, "That's your job then."

Bobby sighed, as he maneuvered the pad and pencil, ready to write. "First, she wants to know everyone you've touched, so we have list of possibilities for power manifestation. So, Rogue, who all have you touched?"

She looked inside as she counted shadows in her head, "Logan, Peter, Pyro, Emma, Scott..."

"Knew it," Logan mumbled.

She ignored him, and the look she was given when she said the next name on the list. "Gambit, Magneto and Jean."

They all stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

"When?"

"Whoa!"

"It was when I first arrived, after Ellis Island. She was running tests to make sure I was okay and she touched me. She told me not to worry about it and that it would be our little secret. She never mentioned it again."

She watched their expressions, and she knew that they were worried, knew they wondered what part of Jean she had inherited, what kind of threat could lie in wait. She knew this because, it was something that she herself had wondered.

After the prolonged silence Peter broke into a grin, "I noticed that Bobby wasn't on that list."

Both he and Rogue rolled their eyes before he looked to Logan, "I'll run the controls."

Around them the scenery changed, and shifted into a training yard. It was a common scenario that all X-Men recruits were run through.

"Okay, we're going to play a game of reverse mutant tag." Logan said with a smile, "Rogue's it, now we count to 10."

--

Coming up next, Rogue vs. Kitty, Peter and Wolverine. Man, this is too much fun.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Not mine. But they're on my Christmas list.

Summary: Rogue is being put through the Danger Room paces. I'm not sure what abilities she may have besides the ones in this chapter. So far, they're based on the comics… so far being key.

Chapter 11

Rogue ran. Her first instinct was to take off her gloves and stand and fight. But as she remembered what Moria said about her not touching anyone else, she ran faster, trying to think.

She knew her opponents; she had spent hours training with them when she had her powers and hours more running controls for them after her powers were taken away. Kitty liked to be sneaky, to be subtle; she liked to grab you from behind and take you off of solid ground, as it were. Colossus was the opposite, he liked the direct approach. She supposed if she had his skin she would like that approach too. Then there was Logan, who liked to play dirty.

Glancing around her, making sure that she was safe for the moment, she closed her eyes, letting Wolverine's shadow step around her, hoping that he could give her an edge without taking her over.

She opened her eyes just in time, Colossus was coming close—she could smell him. Even his smell was sharp. Behind her was a tree, she was on the outskirt of some woods. She jumped; she had never really been good at climbing trees. She was surprised by how easy it was to pull herself up. From where she was, she could see Peter, closing in quickly, and faintly from somewhere around her, she could almost hear Kitty closing in. But where was Wolvie?

One thing at a time, she told herself as Peter passed below her.

No, not Peter.

Colossus.

In one of her recent lessons Storm told them all that in the field, who you face is not your friend, not even in practice. Because when you fight for real, you never know who you'll see. At that thought the memory of Jean flickered inside her.

Colossus paused for a minute, looking at the footprints on the ground below him.

Now or never, Rogue thought, swallowing hard, hoping that this wouldn't hurt as much as she knew it would.

She jumped; her shoulder knocking into leather covered steal, surprised that it didn't hurt, and surprised even more that she managed to take Colossus down.

"You are strong," Peter said with a shocked grin as they struggled to their feet, "Let us see how strong."

Oh my god, oh my god, she thought as he started to charge her, I'm gonna die!

Instincts kicked in; she grabbed a hand and moved low, against his own momentum, flipping him.

He landed hard.

From not far off she heard a gasp, Kitty. The intangible mutant was nearby.

Great!

Okay, invulnerability, check; strength, check. She really didn't want to test the limits of these, especially against Colossus, who could easily bench press 5 tonnes.

The giant was shaking his head. The impact had jarred him, good.

Now it was time to focus on Kitty.

She was amazed at how well she could think as she ran from the tree line, out into the open. Sure she would be a sitting duck out there, but at least so would anyone who tried to come after her. And she had an upper hand, no one was quite sure of what she could do.

She heard it, behind her. The ground was moving, but not from a footstep, the ground was moving from the inside out.

Taking a move from Logan she squatted and spun out her leg, kicking the legs out from under Kitty. Rogue smiled. Kitty had to concentrate to become intangible. As the girl got to her feet, shaking her head, Rogue grabbed her hand, and spun her, releasing her in the direction of Colossus.

Kitty managed to phase just in time. Kitty was good. Rogue was glad.

Rogue didn't hear it, she didn't smell it, and it wasn't the look on Colossus's face as he just stood there, that told Rogue that something was there—she just knew. And she dodged. Just as Logan jumped, claws extended, to right where she should have been.

Rogue was breathing hard, the shadow of Wolverine in her mind was starting to step back… she was alone. Alone against Logan.

She had done alright against him when he had gotten her to show him what she had learned. But then he had gone easy on her. The look in his eyes as she looked at him then reminded her of the Logan she had seen all those years ago, fighting in the cage. It was a look that she never wanted to see directed at her.

Now it was. And he was planning on attacking. Her.

Oh shit.

She rolled backwards into a squat and steadied herself. She jumped back as he swung. She managed to roll past him into another squat when he swung again.

He grinned, he was having fun.

"Eep." She murmured as he charged, roaring loudly as he did.

Rogue jumped as he neared.

She didn't come down.

Logan watched her, his head cocked to the side. "Well fuck."

--

In the control room, Bobby exchanged looks with Ororo and Scott. "She can fly?"

--

In the med lab Gambit would have been surprised too, if he wasn't in so much pain.

The Cure didn't really hurt. It had felt like a part of him he was fizzing out of existence. Now it felt that the part of him that had originally fizzled was exploding back to life, as though it was pissed at having been fizzled out in the first place.

Around him Moria was checking the sensors that he was attached to, trying to bring his temperature back down into normal ranges and check to see the progress through new samples all at the same time.

She was worried.

She knew that she was tempting fate, by putting Remy through treatment so soon. But, the tests had looked positive. Everything had gone right on the samples.

She didn't understand why it was happening. After all, Rogue was taking the quickened pace of DNA synthesis that the added Rogue Protein resulted in just fine, and with no adverse effects. If only she could synthesize Wolverine's healing factor to give him…

Why didn't she think of that?

Rogue had Logan's healing factor.

"Well fuck."

--

Rogue looked around to the ground below her. She was gaining altitude, and wasn't sure how to get down. Ever since she fell out of the X-Jet, she was uneasy with heights. Flying wasn't a power that made it any better.

Below her, Kitty and Peter had joined Logan in watching her.

"How do I get down?" She called to them. She tried to sit… and found herself sitting on air.

"Who did she touch that could fly?" Peter asked Kitty who shrugged.

"Moira did say that she could have an interaction of powers."

Logan shook his head. "Its from Magneto."

They looked at him, "How can you tell?"

"My skeleton's tingling. She's riding magnetic waves." He looked at Kitty, "Bring Mag's here, he may know what to do."

Ororo joined them, "I don't think its just Magneto's powers." She informed them, "It's not like my flight patterns either. Looks almost telekinetic."

Logan closed his eyes. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. Especially since the only telekinetic that Rogue had touched was Jean. And the thought of even a part of Jean being in Rogue's mind, terrified the hell out of him. He didn't want to have to kill her again… especially if he had to kill Rogue to do it.

He turned away from them when Kitty returned, Magneto in toe.

The older mutant laughed, "Well I didn't believe it when she said it."

Rogue folded her arms against her chest, not finding anything amusing in the situation. She blew a strand of white hair out of her face.

She was about to say something to him, something along the lines of where he could shove his face when, against her will, the shadow that had been Gambit, lept forward and Rogue could feel the emotions of everyone around her. She was overwhelmed by them; she grabbed her head, trying to keep them out… when the feeling of pain exploded within her.

She fell. Hard.

Kitty looked at Magneto as Ororo and Peter rushed to Rogue, "You didn't have to drop her that hard."

Magneto shook his head, "I didn't do anything."

Rogue struggled to her feet, the feelings starting to reside as the shadow once again stepped back. "Remy."

"What?"

"He's in pain."

--

More is coming soon. Please keep the reviews coming. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Not mine. La Sigh!

Chapter 12

The X-Men arrived in the med lab quickly, Cyclops leading the way.

Moira merely pointed as they entered, "Out!"

On the table by her, Remy was breathing harshly, sweat pouring off him. The monitors surrounding him were beeping frantically.

Henry, whom was there to assist Moira, gently tried to usher them out.

Scott resisted, "What's happening to him?"

"Moira miscalculated," Hank said in a hushed tone, "The procedure is more painful than she originally thought. She didn't take into consideration the possibility that Rogue may have been helped by Logan's healing factor."

Rogue felt guilt boiling up inside of her. She looked at Gambit, lying on that table, and Hank didn't have to say anything for her to know that there was a chance that the Cajun wouldn't make it.

She didn't resist as Hank pushed them from the Med Lab, leaving them to watch through the glass barrier. She looked to where Scott stood. She felt sorry for him. To have just found out about his brother, only to lose him.

Tears started to build in her eyes, the weight of the past week's events falling hard on her shoulders. She could feel the shadows in her mind, all silent, watching her, judging her, and then, turning away.

She left the room, the expectant stares, and she moved down the corridor several feet before sliding down the wall, the tears finally winning.

From where she sat, with her head buried against her knees, she saw a pair of boots right beside her, lowering down beside her. The chill in the air told her who it was. It always got colder when he was emotional. His control slipped.

She used to like the chill; it used to let her know that she got to him, that he reacted to her. Now it just served to remind her just how much had changed, and how quickly it had happened.

Bobby, not sure of himself, put a hand on her back. He had never seen her cry. It was true that he hadn't seen her as brave and strong as she was getting to be, but he hadn't seen her cry. She told him that she cried a lot before and when Magneto took her, when he had said that he was going to kill her. And when Bobby had asked her why she didn't cry much after that, she merely said that after that experience, she found that few other things were worth her tears.

That was what hurt about seeing her cry. It wasn't that she found something worth crying over, it was that who she was crying over wasn't him.

He swallowed hard as she leaned into him, glad that someone was there for her.

"It'll be okay Rogue. Gambit will get through it, I'm sure."

She sat up and looked at him. The sincerity in his tone, and the strength that shone through his pain, made her want to cry more.

"Oh Bobby." She shook her head, "I'm not crying over Remy."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Not just Remy."

He tried to wipe her tears away with a leather clad hand. "Then what is it?"

More fell, "It's everything. This moment that we're sitting in, right now, the feelings that everyone feels, the tension, the fear, the anger… its all my fault Bobby. And someone might die because of it."

"And how many people would die if you hadn't brought us to this moment?" He nodded towards to the Med Lab, "We now know what we're up against. You brought us the means to know and the means to hope that we can stop it. And maybe we can save the Professor. It's the least we can do; after all he did to save us. And because of you, there may be a way to give all the mutants who regret the cure hope as well."

She shut her eyes, burying her head into his shoulder, the tears falling in silence; and listened to him.

"This is only one moment Rogue. We've faced worse. And we'll face others that will be worse still. But it will pass. And what we learn here will help us face what's to come. And if the past couple days have been any indication, you will be able to face a lot more in moments to come." He brought her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. He studied her, watched her carefully, looking for all the subtle details that he had loved about her face. They were still there, but they were different, or maybe he was.

"I'm proud of you Rogue, I'm proud of who you were, and I'm proud of who you're going to be."

"I'm scared of her. Of whom I'm becoming. What if I loose control like Jean or the Professor? What if I let the darkness and hatred inside of me win like Magneto? What if I get lost in the shadows of my own mind?"

"Those are future moments; let them take care of themselves. But I don't think that you have to worry. You aren't as powerful as Jean or the Professor, and you have too much good to be like Magneto. And you have enough people in your life that will kept you you."

"Promise?"

"Double promise." He wiped away another tear as it fell. "What's that one for?"

She blushed, "That one was for Gambit."

He couldn't help but smile, despite the hurt. "You like him?"

She shrugged, "I think I do. I'm sorry Bobby; I tried not to, honest. Liking him was the last thing I wanted to do."

"Why?"

"Would you want to like a thief Swamp Rat who hangs out with Magneto?"

He laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"What if he doesn't make it?"

"He will."

"How do you know?"

"Haven't you ever read comics? The annoying ones always make it."

--

Scott was sitting alone in the waiting area of the med lab when Rogue came in. His eyes never left the bed. The curtain was drawn, but he could still make out Remy's fits.

"How is he?"

Scott jumped.

"Sorry. Can I join you?"

He nodded as he moved to make room for her beside him. "He's the same. Moira has made him as comfortable as she can for now. Any more drugs might put him under too deep."

"I'm sorry. I feel like this is my fault."

He shook his head. "No one could have known about the healing factor affecting you. We still don't know if that is even the reason for it. You don't have anything to be sorry for Rogue. In fact I should thank you."

"He might die and you're thanking me? Are you sure all of you came back from the dead?"

He smiled, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have even known that I had someone that I could lose. Thank you for bringing him back to me."

She didn't have to see his eyes to know how sincere he was. It helped to take some of her guilt away.

He looked down to his hands, "Rogue, I have to ask you something."

She swallowed hard, nothing good ever started with 'I have to ask you something.' "What?"

His fingers laced and unlaced. "Logan said that you were in the lab the night that I woke up."

"I was."

"That you touched me."

"I did."

"And Bobby told me when you started to fly that you once touched Jean."

"Well, she touched me. But yes."

He nodded.

Suddenly, she knew what he wanted to ask, but couldn't. Not for how far fetched or silly it might have sounded, but of not getting the answer he was hoping for. She smiled at him, in awe of him and how strong he was.

"It wasn't my idea to touch you," she admitted to him, watching him closely, "and my powers probably shouldn't have broken through a psionic's wall… but they did. Not just on you, but also with Emma. I don't think it wasn't me Scott. At least, not all of it."

"Jean?"

She nodded, "I think so. At least, I can't really think of any other explanation. Please don't tell anyone about that? It makes them uneasy just to know that a part of her power is in me. They would freak if they new part of her mind was too."

He nodded, understanding how frightening it would, if you didn't know Jean. "Of course, I understand."

She looked around, something that had been weighting heavily on her mind and shoulders willing herself to speak further. "Scott, I think it was my fault."

"What?"

"Jean's losing control."

He shook his head, "She was losing control since Ellis Island."

She met his eye, "Scott, I think I helped speed it along. After she touched me, I started to notice it, getting worse. What if I took from her the control she needed to keep Phoenix back?"

"What does she tell you? The her in your mind?"

She closed her eyes, looking inside of herself, to where the two shadows stood, together, almost as one. And she listened.

"She says that what is done is done. There is no reason to dwell on it, and no answer would be enough."

He smiled at her, "There you go." He stood, "I'm going to stretch my legs, and I'll be back soon. Will you stay with him?"

She nodded, being drawn once more inside of herself.

She stopped him just as the doors slid open, "Scott, she also says that she loves you, and that you will always be together, even if it's in another universe." She frowned, "I don't understand."

Under his glasses a single tear fell, "Its okay Rogue, I do. Thank you, for that."

He wore a smile as he left the room.

That was the thing about mutants; they always found a way to survive. Even in death, they could find ways to get better. He could almost laugh: Jean was something else. She was still alive, somewhere, out there in the vastness of the universe and the space in between; and a part of her, the part still in Rogue, was always going to be there, watching over them all.

--

TBC… promise!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Still not mine. I'm wishing REALLY hard though.

Chapter 13

Moira had left the med lab, knowing that for then there wasn't much she could do. Remy was left alone in the room, with sensors hooked up to alert her should anything go wrong. Everyone was told to leave him alone to rest.

Rogue was quickly learning how not to listen, and she entered the glass enclosure, to where Gambit was laying, still sweating, with sensors and an IV hooked up to him. She watched him from the doorway for a moment, before taking a step closer to him, her eyes not leaving his face, still contorted in pain that, however muted, was still there.

"So I found out that Cerebro can work without a telepath working it. If you know what you're doing. It was something that the Professor never told anyone. Luckily Eric knew how to make the changes. We're searching for the Professor and Emma now. Hopefully we'll find him before he remembers to find us. Hopefully you'll be strong enough to join us, I know how you love to fight."

She swallowed as she moved a chair beside him. "You sure are going to some drastic measures to break that promise you made to me Swamp rat. Just trying to prove why you never make them?"

She waited for some sign that he heard her. When none came she sighed. "Why did you do it? And I know you did. So why did you open my mind like that? Make me see your pain? How did you even get in there? Bobby better be right though, and you better make it through this. I need those answers." She hesitated. "I-I also don't want to lose you. And that thought frightens me.

"I have so many questions to ask you about what I saw, about your past. Who Belladonna is, is just one of them. I think it's because we're both Southern, but I understand what you meant; I feel comforted around you too, calm. It's like all the noise that is my life and my head fade away, and I'm me. That never happens. And it's frightening because it shouldn't happen. I don't deserve it. I'm not the type of person who gets a safe haven, a place where I can have these things. I'm the type of person who longs for one, and fights for one. But never gets one, but carries on anyway.

"I don't know why, but that's always how I painted myself. It's easier to think that way. It hurts more to want something and never get it than it does to never want it in the first place. Or what hurts worse is to never want it, then have some sweet talking bastard make you hope for it, then you actually get it, then lose it.

"That's what you make me fear. Having to be strong being alone, after having someone being strong with me. My other fears are starting to fall away in the face of this one. Well, most of my fears.

"They fear me Remy. They always were wary of me, but now, they're afraid. Logan's afraid. I almost killed him once, in a way that no one ever did before. For the first time since he could remember, he had a taste of true fear. He thought he owed me something for that reminder. But it was always there, in the back of him mind, that I was dangerous. But he never feared me; not until he found out about me touching Jean. I know that he loved her, loved her so much that killing her almost tore him up inside, almost made him beg me to take all his pain away.

"I don't know why he didn't. It's the thought that he'll have to kill her again, the little bit still alive that has him scared of me. I think he sees her now, when he looks at me; and not in any good way." She watched him again, feeling helpless. She hated feeling that way. It always reminded her of when her powers manifested: confusion, not knowing who she was, seeing David having epileptic convulsions, and not being able to help him or herself.

She looked over her shoulder when the Med Lab door opened.

"Warren?" She was surprised; he was the last person she would have expected to see there. "What are you doing here?"

He blushed, "No one was supposed to be here. I..."

"Its okay Warren, I won't turn you in if you don't turn me in." She gestured to the seat on the other side of Gambit, "Sit. What brings you here?"

He smiled at her, grateful that she wasn't mad at the intrusion. "I just wanted to see how he was doing."

"He's doing the same from what I've heard. Still in pain."

He looked down.

"Warren? Are you okay?"

When he looked up his eyes were glistening. She guessed it was sheer will alone that kept him from crying. "I feel responsible." He admitted to her. "My father invented the Cure, because of me. Because he was ashamed of having a mutant as a son."

She didn't know what to say. She knew that his father had funded the Cure; she just failed to make any connection between father's motives and son's genetics.

"I'm sorry Warren. But hundreds of mutants are happy now because they have the life they couldn't have before."

He was growing red with anger, "What about those who the cure was forced upon? What about those, like you and him, who regret taking it?"

She smiled at him before looking at Gambit, "We are testing a way to fix that right now. Hopefully he won't have to sacrifice his life for it."

Warren stood up, "I have come to help him."

"How?"

He looked down at the mutant on the bed, his hair and wings starting to glow almost gold, "I can cure him."

Eyes wide, Rogue stood up. She knew that Warren had healing powers, in a way. He took on the other's person's pain; he shared a portion of it, and gave a part of himself to the other person, to help them heal. The powers were manifesting and weren't developed and always left Warren weak. He had never tried it on anyone as bad off as Gambit. And she had a feeling that even Warren didn't know what would happen to him as a result.

"Don't!" She pleaded, trying to judge if she could stop him without hurting him or Gambit, or without the use of her powers. She wasn't sure.

"You want him to be better?"

"Not this way. You don't know what would happen to you, or him. What if you reverse the process? What if you kill the proteins?"

"I wouldn't…"

She cut him off, "Do you know? Can you tell me 100 that you wouldn't make it worse? That you wouldn't hurt him, or yourself?"

"No."

"Then please don't try it."

He looked up at her. "What is the good of having these powers if I cannot use them?"

"Its knowing when to use them, and when not to use them. That's a type of control that no school can teach you. It makes the difference between good guys and bad guys. Being able to say, that using your powers, may not always help." She smiled, thanking the shadows, finally understanding something that no school could have taught her, only good teachers.

The gold faded to blond, "Then what do we do?"

"The same thing that women for generations have done while the men-folk were away; we wait, and hope."

"I hate waiting."

She nodded, "Yeah me too."

She looked behind her as Scott returned a book in hand. She thought of something, "I have an idea of how we can spend our time waiting."

--

Rogue was standing on the roof. Angel was standing beside her.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yup."

"You don't even know if your extra powers are permanent."

"I know. I figure that if they don't work when my life's in danger, they aren't going to work at all."

"What happens if they don't?"

"Then you get to make a daring rescue."

"What if I miss?"

She paused as if the thought never really occurred to her. She shrugged, "Then I guess you get to use your healing powers after all today. Ready?"

"I guess."

Rogue took a step back, and then flung herself forward. For a brief moment after her feet left the shingled surface, she wondered what the hell she was thinking, but before she could even scream, she found herself floating.

She looked to Warren, "So... I think I'm stuck."

Warren laughed as she tried to swim through the air. He held out his hand to her, "Here, let me help you."

"What, am I missing a happy thought or something?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, I've never flown without wings before. Maybe you're just meant to float?"

"A power that makes me be a sitting duck in the air? Great, can I trade it in?"

He gained altitude, Rogue gliding by his side.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving you a feel for the air. Maybe you just need a jump start of momentum." He started to dive, "Like this." When he got half way down, he released Rogue's hand.

"How do I not crash?" She yelled as the ground got steadily closer.

"Bend up."

She tried. She nicked a tree, but she managed to miss the ground. She started to fly up again. She never thought she would find it as much fun as she did. But flying lost some of its fear when you could do it under your own power, and when you could stop.

Stop?

"Angel, how do I stop?"

He caught up with her. "Try throwing you body against your momentum."

It worked.

She laughed, and managed a twirl. "I can see why you didn't want to give this up!"

From somewhere below them, there was an explosion.

Warren reached out, and grabbing Rogue's hand, pulled them both towards the mansion. As they rushed in, students were rushing out. There was smoke billowing up from the elevators leading down to the sub basements.

They found Kitty and Ororo standing in the hall directing students out towards the yards, both in uniform.

"What happened?" Rogue asked, as the last of the children swarmed past them.

"Gambit blew up the monitors in the Med Lab." Ororo told her, "If it wasn't for Bobby being nearby we might have lost the entire lab."

"Gambit's awake? His powers are back?"

Kitty smiled, "Scott isn't impressed. Especially when Gambit started to charge everything he could get his hands on."

"No one is." Ororo assured her. "Scott has him in the Danger Room right now, blowing off some stream. Logan is fixing the elevators, so there isn't any way down there until then." Ororo looked to the clock on the wall, "I better get changed. Kurt's flight will arrive in a couple hours."

Rogue looked at Kitty when they were alone. "Kurt?"

"They've been calling in everyone they could think of. People whom I have never heard of will be here. We'll be a small army by the time it comes to stop the Professor."

"Listen, can you take me down there?"

Kitty broke into a smile, "Sure thing. Anxious to see him?"

"Anxious to make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

Kitty nodded, leading the way into a linen closet. She met Rogue's curious expression, "This is directly over the control room. Peter and Bobby are there. They hate it when I do this."

Rogue had never phased before. It was an unusual feeling. It was as though, all of your molecules was spread apart, and was sieved through the floor, whose molecules were also spread apart. It left you wondering, when back together again, if you had left any part of you behind. In a word, it was creepy.

Kitty held a finger to her lips as she moved behind the two men, who were talking about some sort of car.

"Hey guys!" Kitty laughed as they jumped in their seats.

Rogue shook her head before looking through the window, to where Gambit stood, shooting targets. He looked happier than she had ever seen him. "Hey Kitty," she said after a moment, "Can you phase me through the window?"

Kitty nodded, "Sure thing, but how are you going to get down? It's three flights."

"I can get down there," she assured the younger girl, "It's the stopping that I'm still figuring out."

--

Gambit was having the time of his life. One minute he was in the worse pain in his entire existence, the next he was waking up to monitor's exploding around him. It brought him back to the good old days: back to the days when he was a mutant.

He laughed, pulling a new deck from his belt. It was the third one he went through since waking up. He couldn't help it, he really missed making things go 'boom'.

He forgot about explosions, however, when the sight of Rogue, passed over his head, stopping just above him. "Chere! You're flying."

"And you're exploding things."

He watched her for a moment, before shifting his weight. "No offense Chere, but its a little unnerving having you floating above my head like that."

"Sorry, I'm still working on the whole getting down thing. Warren thinks it has something to do with getting the right momentum going."

Stuffing the deck into a coat pocket, he held out his hands to her, "Can I help?"

She floated away from his hands.

"You don't trust me?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I have memories of you almost taking a guy's arm off with those hands. And you want me to let you touch me with them?"

"I won't blow you up, promise."

She floated closer to him, letting him put his arms around her waist and maneuver her to solid ground, "You're starting to make a whole lot of promises Cajun."

"And I even managed to keep a couple. It's a new record." He pulled her near him, "You're making a new man out of me."

She pulled away at the sound of two throats clearing. At the entrance of the Danger Room stood Scott and Logan, they exchanged glances, the beginnings of smiles playing at both sets of lips.

Scott looked at Logan, "My brother's a sweet talker."

Logan smiled, "He must have gotten that from his adopted family."

It was Scott's turn to smile, "That's what I was thinking."

"He definitely has the Summer's way with blowing things up though."

"We get that from our Mom. She blew up a lot at Dad."

Logan shook his head, before looking at the pair. "If you two are done flirting, we got to go."

"Cerebro picked up Emma's signal." Scott looked towards the control room, well aware that they were listening, "That means you three too! We leave in 10 minutes. Let's go."

--

Okay, so I'm in university, and am currently taking 3 condensed summer classes which are demanding more of my time. Which means that even though I would much rather be spending my time, I'm going to have to slow this fic down. I'm not stopping it, just slowing down the updates. I already have the next two sections done, and they'll be up in a couple days.

But again, I'm not quitting this fanfic. It's really not letting me.

I just realized where I'm leaving this off... its written, and I think its worth the wait. I just hope you do too.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Not mine, so please don't sue. Unless you want my love, because that is all I own. Besides socks.

Chapter 14

Magneto was waiting for them in the hanger bay.

"Nine people to face just one woman?" Gambit said shaking his head, "Hardly seems fair."

Scott shook his head, "You don't know Emma. Besides, you aren't going."

"What? How come?"

"How come? You just spent the last 6 hours fighting for your life."

"So? I got better."

"The Lab equipment didn't."

Magneto took a step in between the two brothers; something, the family relation, that had surprised even him. "I believe that he should come with us." He held out the pieces of plastic that he and others had been working on since his arrival. "I am not certain if these will work against Miss Frost. If they don't block out her telepathy, Gambit will come in most useful."

"Why's that?"

Gambit grinned as he tapped his temple, "Telepaths can't read my mind."

"That's because he doesn't have one," Bobby murmured from behind him.

Rogue suppressed a laugh, "So what's the plan?"

Magneto looked around the hanger, "We don't know how many mutants she may have under her control. She may have an army of her own."

Cyclops nodded at Magneto, taking over the briefing, "We'll break into teams, look out for Emma, don't use any more force than necessary. There may innocent people down there. The same goes for Emma, we don't know if she's doing this under her own power or not. Cerebro spotted her at the top of the Empire State Building."

"Romantic."

"Kitty, you, Angel and Colossus will be on crowd control. We are going to clear that roof as soon as possible. Bobby, I'm leaving Magneto in your hands. Watch his back, and ice him if he so much as makes a move against us."

Bobby grinned, "Right Boss."

"Rogue, you and Gambit are going to be on stand by. Help secure the area, but be on alert, if these sensors of Magneto's don't work, it will be up to you two to bring Emma down, as well as possibly the rest of us. Wolverine you get to distract her. I'm going to try to talk to her."

They looked up when Moira cleared her throat. "And I'll prep the lab in case this doesn't work. Mr. LeBeau, I suggest you rein in your powers for the next 12 hours, until your body fully adapts to the energy output. Ororo has just left to go to the airport to pick up our new arrivals. Are you sure that it's wise leaving the children unattended?"

"You're with them, and Hank. If anything foreign comes within a mile of the parameter we'll be notified. You're as safe as you can be."

She handed Scott a stopped vile, "Here, if you need it, this will disorientate her. I'm not sure for how long, but it may be enough to break through whatever hold Onslaught has on her." She turned to go, "Oh and Rogue, try not to touch anybody."

Scott looked from the retreating figure to those under his charge, "Alright everyone, remember that this isn't a training exercise, I want everyone sharp, safe and on alert. Let's go!"

He led the way into the X-Jet, behind him Peter and Bobby shared a grin with Kitty. "Our fearless leader has returned!"

--

Rogue sat beside Gambit after noticing the pout he wore.

"What's wrong?"

"He's treating me like a child."

"I hate to break it to you, but since you woke up, that's exactly how you've been acting. Besides, he's just worried. He doesn't want to lose you."

Gambit rolled his eyes, "Right."

Ahead of them Bobby was going over strategies with Kitty, who was leading those charged with clearing the roof.

Gambit watched them for a moment before nudging Rogue. "He likes her. It's written all over his stupid face."

She grinned at him before nodding towards the seat beside Kitty, "Pete likes her too."

"He'd rip her in half."

"Shh!" She said even as she broke into a laugh. Her smile quickly fell, and she inhaled deeply. "I'm nervous; I've never been in the field before, not like this."

"You'll do great, you're with me."

"Why did you come back?"

"Truthfully?" She nodded, "Because I was half passed out drunk when Scott and Stormy found me. I couldn't really argue my way out of it."

"Gambit..."

He shrugged, "You wanted the truth."

"Okay then, why did you stay after you sobered up? Was it just so you could get your powers?"

"Part of it."

"And the rest of it?"

"Don't know. This entire situation isn't going how it should. I never thought I would be helping in a fight against a man I don't even know with people who don't trust me; I never thought I would discover a family that I never knew I was lost from; and I never thought I would discover you."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on Gambit, stop trying to sweet talk me. It won't work."

"And why is that?"

"We're too different?" His expression told her that he didn't believe her. She shook her head before trying again. "Because I can't touch and you lie. How about that?" Shaking her head she unfastened her seat belt and moved up towards the front, beside where Logan sat.

"Gumbo giving you a hard time?"

She shrugged, "He thinks everything's a joke."

"He's a dick. It runs in his family."

"You're not helping."

"I'm not trying to. Look Kid, you've always done what you felt you needed to do, regardless of what anyone else thinks. It'll be the same with him."

"What do you think of him?"

"I think he's a cocky dick."

"Besides that."

He shrugged, "I don't. That's all I need."

"Everyone get ready," Cyclops said from the front, "We're coming down."

They landed nearby. With the ship cloaked, they looked around.

"Angel, I want you to take a fly by, let's see how many people are there." He looked up at the Empire State building, "What we need is a way to get Wolverine up there in a way that will distract Emma, and allow us enough time to get the people out safely."

Colossus smiled, "I could throw him."

"Oh hell no."

Cyclops looked over his shoulder. "Iceman, how's your sledding these days?" He nodded upwards, towards the top of the building. "Can you do it?"

Bobby grinned; it was days like these that he loved being a mutant, "Oh yeah."

"Can you take anyone with you?"

"I wouldn't tempt the weight capacity with anyone heavier than Kitty."

"Take her. Rogue, I want you and Angel to drop Wolverine in." He looked to Colossus and Gambit, "That leaves us on foot. Colossus, stay close to Magneto and watch him until Bobby can."

Angel swooped back down, "She's up there alright. She looks alone. There are twenty or so civilians up there as well."

"Okay. Give us a head start, and then make your move."

--

Logan hated to fly, ever since he could remember his stomach turned at heights. Watching as Angel helped Rogue get airborne didn't ease his mind. Sometimes, he almost wished he could die.

Iceman stood with Shadowcat, the girl clutching to him, partially phasing to reduce her body weight. With a nod the youth donned his ice armor and started to create a sort of slide underneath him that lifted them into the air.

That left him.

Together, Rogue and Angel grabbed onto him and flew towards the top of the building. Through the windows he could see people gathered, looking at the scene outside.

Then the alarm went off, and people started to evacuate.

He had never been to the Empire State building, granted, he had never gone to the Statue of Liberty either until he went with the X-Men on the rescue mission. Who would have thought that being a hero also allowed you to see the city's sights?

Right then, he was seeing Emma.

He had admired her from the moment that they had met. She was beautiful and strong and almost untouchable. Not in the same way as Rogue, but rather in a way that almost dared you to try to touch her. And right then she was sitting on a bench, facing away from them, so that he could see her side on, the wind blowing her scent straight towards him.

She turned her head, and smiled.

Above him, Angel screamed and fell.

Logan jerked, as Rogue alone was left to hold him aloft. That knowledge made him hate flying all the more.

Quickly Rogue brought him to the ledge of the building and let him go, with an easy six foot drop to the roof's surface before swooping and diving after the falling mutant, hoping against hope that she was faster than gravity.

"Angel's down," she called into her headset during the decent, "Repeat, Angel is down."

He was getting nearer; she was closing in, almost able to grab him.

But so was the ground.

Willing herself forward she managed to grab him: first by a foot, then by an arm, and then under his shoulders, between his wings. And then, as she had done before, she threw her weight against her momentum, hoping for an easy stop.

She managed to slow.

Then she hit the ground. Luckily a car broke her fall. And she had broken Angel's.

In more pain than she would have liked her invulnerability to allow, and ignoring the blaring of the car's alarm, she rolled herself and Angel to the ground.

In her arms he was thrashing around, screaming in pain, murmurs about his wings leaving his lips. He started to claw at his back, tears streaming down his face.

"How is he?" Wolverine's voice asked. He sounded winded.

"I think he's hallucinating."

"Emma's telepathy." She heard Magneto's voice say.

She could hear Wolverine growl, "Get back up here; we need all the mutant power we can get."

"I'm on my way." She tried to fly. Willing it, jumping, heck, she even thought a happy thought or two. But no such luck. She was hoofing it.

The elevators were locked off, due to the alarm. She was forced to take the stairs. There was silence when she got to the roof. A telltale sign of anything involving the X-Men was that silence was always bad.

She ran through the doors: before her lay the X-Men, and civilians. Most were unconscious, and many were wounded. In the middle of it all was Gambit, half laying, rubbing the back of his neck, Wolverine, starting to wake up, and Emma, wearing Magneto's helmet and holding onto an unconscious Cyclops.

"What did I miss?"

--

I hope this part was worth the wait. I'll have the next part up in a couple days. And hopefully will be back on a regular schedule by the weekend.

Please R&R.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own, so you do not sue.

Summary: What happened while Rogue was diving after the falling Angel. It begins the moment she let go of Logan.

Chapter 15

What she missed was this…

Rogue had let go.

Wolverine had felt himself go into free fall, which was only slightly better than flying. The slightly came into play with the knowledge that he was headed towards solid ground.

The metal on his bones scrapped against itself as he landed on the roof. Grunting as he stood he looked around. The Half-pint and Snowball were already up and trying to usher the panicking people towards the door. At the entrance he saw Gumbo and Cyke leading the way through the doors, with Colossus, holding onto Magneto, following close behind. The Calvary had arrived.

Emma followed his line of sight, and then, almost at the same time, she looked towards the people, filtering into their minds and clicking something into place. They stopped panicking.

Emma was a telepath, but she had a particular talent, one that left many people writhing around on the floor, and not in any good way. She could tap into a person's fear and hatred, and she could bring it to the forefront of a person's mind, and manipulate it so that a person was living every moment as though it was the most terrifying experience in their lives. She could also turn her skin into a substance as invulnerable as diamond. Basically, she was a cold hearted bitch, whom was worthy of facing the likes of Wolverine.

And right now, she had turned the panicking crowd into a mob of advocating mutant haters.

He really hoped that the strip of plastic he wore over his right temple worked better for him than it did for Angel.

She was laughing.

--

Cyclops broke through the doors in time to see Iceman and Shadowcat usher people towards him before he felt Emma's eyes upon him. Then, as the term often went, all hell broke loose.

And the crowd started to attack.

"Everyone," He yelled, "Protect yourselves, but don't harm anyone." He looked over his shoulder to Colossus, "Stay with Magneto."

Beside him Gambit already had his staff extended.

"No fair, I hate it when bad guys don't play by the rules!"

"Welcome to my world," Scott assured him before ducking a blow from a woman's purse.

Across from them Kitty and Bobby were fairing only slightly better.

Iceman was just finishing making an ice prison and Shadowcat was phasing people into it as gently as she could. They managed to get ten people in before Kitty, after phasing the tenth in, was cracked up beside the head by a sign post that had been pulled off the guard fence.

She fell.

Bobby was by her side in an instant, helping her to stand.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I think its time for plan B though."

"You have a plan B?"

"Working on one, as soon as the world stops spinning."

He would have laughed, if they weren't being closed in upon by two men, one holding a pocket knife, the other the sign post, and both voicing their rather negative and derogatory opinions regarding mutant kind.

Swallowing hard, ignoring their jeers, he iced the ground below their feet, taking probably too much satisfaction when they fell.

He looked around then to see Gambit, Cyclops and Colossus rounding everyone up, directing them towards the ice prison.

"Bobby," Cyclops told him, "Open it up."

He nodded, touching the ice surface, and concentrated on taking down the wall.

Cyclops, inhaled deeply before looking at Gambit. The younger mutant nodded and took a step back.

Cyclops held up the vial, "Everyone, cover your mouths. Now!"

--

Wolverine had counted himself lucky. The telepathy inhibitor worked. That was one worry down, which only left the worry of Emma Frost left. His claws extended.

She smiled again as her body smoothed and shone.

She sparkled like an uncut diamond. On a woman, what one would imagine to look beautiful, actually looked utterly creepy. It was distracting.

She neared and punched.

It had hurt. Okay, so the skin wasn't just defensive. Good to know.

He dodged and attacked, he met each of her blows, he wasn't gaining ground but he sure as hell wasn't loosing any either. He was playing with her.

If it wasn't for the fact that she was probably trying to kill him, he would have been having fun.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware of what was going on with the others. So he wasn't surprised when he heard Cyclops yell and a small grey cloud covered the crowd of civilians who had, up until that point, been trying to kill them.

The next thing he was aware of was Gambit, running with Magneto's helmet. Emma saw him coming too late, and before she could react, the helmet was in place.

Cyclops rushed forward, watching as Emma clutched her head, her diamond skin fading to flesh, and her eyes welling from what he only guessed was pain.

With a scream she fell to her knees. And with that scream the wave of mental energy that had been holding her hostage broke free and spread out over the roof with enough power to knock everyone down, overpowering their minds, and for hopefully only a moment, leaving them unconscious.

--

Rogue looked around at the damage before rushing forward. The first one she found was Magneto who had stood back by the door. Without the mental shield of his helmet he would have been vulnerable to Emma, had she noticed him. He was just waking up.

She reached up, and removed the inhibitor she wore, and handed it to him. She knew how much he hated not being defended against telepathy.

Colossus was next. He was still out cold. Iceman was nearby holding the unconscious Kitty. He nodded at her, signally that he was alright.

She moved forward, seeing first to Logan.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded, shooing her help away. "Yeah, go see to Gumbo."

Gambit had already stumbled to his feet and was standing over Emma and Cyclops. She placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm alright Chere."

Wolverine and Iceman joined them. "Let's head down," Logan said after a moment.

"I'll take Pete," Rogue said looking at where the giant still lay.

"I'll take Cyke, Gambit, you bring her."

"What about the people?" Bobby asked, looking to where the civilians still were, all unconscious.

In the distance sirens were heard.

"They'll get help soon enough. Come on."

So together the moved to the elevators, which, with the alarm disarmed, now were working once again, and went down to the ground level.

"I hope that Angel's alright," Rogue said after a moment, as Peter groaned himself back into awake fullness.

"Did we win?"

Bobby smiled sadly, "Yeah, we won."

"Then why does everyone look like we lost?"

--

Angel was waiting for them at the Jet, which he was just finishing prepping. He felt like a stranger in his own skin. As soon as Emma entered his mind, he was a child again, lost and grounded; overwhelmed with the feeling of having his wings being sawn off. He could still feel the pain, even after the effects of her powers had worn off. As the team, he quickly pushed those thoughts aside and moved to help the injured parties into seats.

Rogue looked at him, "Are you alright?"

He nodded, not meeting her eye, "Yes. I had thought…"

She smiled at him sadly; her gloved hand squeezing his arm in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "You don't need to explain."

"Bobby," Logan said once they all were situated, "Fly this heap will you?"

Bobby nodded, and moved to the front with Angel.

Rogue looked around. Peter sat by Kitty, wiping her face dry with a cloth. Logan and Eric were both looking at Emma and Gambit sat with Cyclops, who was still asleep.

Emma reached for the helmet. Logan grabbed her hand.

"Don't. We leave it, until Moira takes a look at you."

Rogue moved beside Gambit, who never looked away from Scott. "He's going to be okay."

Gambit merely nodded.

So, she thought as she looked around the somber interior, this was the life of a mutant hero. She sighed, sitting down; well damn.

--

So the next couple parts will hopefully be up by Monday. I'm thinking a 2 updates a week is doable. I hope you think it's worth the wait.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. I appreciate every one of them.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Not mine, please don't sue… at least can you wait until I finish the story?

Author's Note: Alright, firstly I wanted to apologize if anything happened when I changed the story's name (i.e. if anyone who had it marked for update alerts didn't get them).

The reason I decided to make this change was simple: this is no longer a story about just Rogue coming into her own. It's about Rogue becoming her namesake, Gambit becoming mutant and brother and X-Man, it's about Magneto reclaiming his mutant powers, finding peace with Xavier and finding a new purpose; it's about Cyclops coming back to life in more than just the physical terms. It's about the evolution of the X-Men, the evolution of the fight for mutant kind, it's about evolution of personalities and powers and relationships. It's about rebirths, reinventions, fresh starts, and never giving in.

Thank you for all the reviews, please keep them coming, I read and save every one of them.

Alright, as the comics love to say, "'Nuff said!" On with the story.

Chapter 16

The ride home was quiet, no one making unnecessary movements, only the sounds of breathing filling the cabin.

Rogue looked between all of the sullen faces, knowing that a similar look was also on her own face. There was something in the air; maybe it was the injured team members, or their near defeat, but she had a reason that most of why everyone felt so sick about their victory was because of the knowledge that came with it; Onslaught had been among them. Exhaling, Rogue again joined her team-mates in quiet reflection and awkward silence.

After countless minutes of this Bobby looked back at them, "We're landing."

Logan stood and signaled to Emma to stand. She looked more put together, like her name, she was cool and calm, nothing to belie the confusion that swam inside her mind as she tried to sort out the last two months.

She remembered waking from a dream: Scott was alive, lost and confused and close to death, but not dead yet. She also remembered dimly, as though staring though a thick fog, of finding him. She didn't remember where, and couldn't remember any detail of the time in between, only that time had indeed past. She remembered briefly seeing Rogue in the mansion; she couldn't recall getting there, only that it felt right being there; and then she recalled being on the Empire State Building with a strange helmet on her head and fallen X-Men around her. If she focused hard enough she could recall moments from within those places, but they were only pictures and she didn't know if any of it was really real.

For someone like her, who had prided herself on her control, and on being composed and strong enough to be in charge of her own mind, this sense of not knowing what happened to her, or who was responsible for it, was the most unsettling thing that could have happened to her.

She allowed Logan to lead her off the jet, glancing one last time at Scott as she went. Was he real? Or just another falsehood meant to confuse her?

--

Moira, Ororo and Henry were waiting for them in the hanger bay, two stretchers waiting. Angel had made the call during the flight, briefing them about what happened and what to expect.

Peter and Gambit came down the ramp, with Scott and Kitty in their respective arms. Moira quickly went about checking their vitals. When she was satisfied that they weren't in immediate danger she looked to the rest assembled, her expression serious.

"Warren, I want you and Peter to come to the lab to be checked out." She looked to Logan and Emma, "And I'll do something about that horrid looking helmet. Come on."

The rest waited for them to leave before looking to Ororo, now the only one left with them.

"What now?"

"Now I want you all to give me a briefing of what happened," she smiled, "And then I want you to take the night off. I'm not sure how much longer this quiet will last, so take advantage of it while you can. We'll be starting rigorous training soon."

"Did our new arrivals get in?"

Storm nodded, "Yes, don't worry Bobby. They'll be at the briefing tomorrow. Now I mean it, go and have some fun."

--

Remy found himself, moments after changing, in the lab, standing by the glass partition, looking in at the sleeping figures of Scott and Kitty as Moira checked Peter over. Nearby Logan stood by Emma who never took her eyes from the sleeping man she once knew so well.

Beside him sat Warren, who was slouched forward, his face nestled against his intertwined fingers. Gambit looked back at him, "You like hanging out here?"

Warren jumped slightly, noticing Gambit there for the first time. When the words washed over him he smiled and shook his head. "Not really. Moira wants to check me for psychic damage." He looked down when he said it.

"Are you okay?" By looking at the winged mutant, Remy knew he wasn't, and not for the first time, he was glad that he was immune to psychic powers.

Angel nodded, "Yeah, it's just that I understand why Onslaught wanted her. Her powers are frightening." He inhaled, pushing those thoughts aside, "Why are you here?"

Gambit shrugged and flopped down in the chair by him, "I wish I knew. I have lived my entire life without knowledge of having another family, of having another home, and have never worried about anyone besides myself. So why is it, only days after finding out about the Summer's family, I worry? And, not only about Scott, but also about the others under this roof."

"There is something about this place," he said looking to the ceiling, a reflective smile on his face. He had noticed this before, with himself and with others like Wolverine. And he had spent long hours pondering it, "It brings out the good in people, it shows you that there is something out there that is worth fighting for, and you see people fighting for it. It's inspiring. It's hard not to be swept up in it."

"Is that why you're here?"

"They gave me a safe place to be when I needed it, no questions asked. I want to return the favour; not just to them, but for others." He looked to where Scott lay, "And as for Scott, just remember, he came back from the dead, and he survived losing the one person he loved more than life itself. Compared to all that, a little coma is nothing for him to beat."

"I suppose."

"Why don't you take Storm's advice and go out? Take Rogue somewhere nice?"

Gambit hid a smile. The thought had occurred to him, and he almost asked her, until he remembered her coldness in the jet. "Non, I don't think she would want me to."

Angel nodded, and then fell silent. After a long moment he looked at him, "Are you sure?"

--

Rogue wrapped the towel tightly around herself as she stepped out of her private bathroom. She was still stiff from her fall, but the shower and residual healing factor helped, and the feeling was fading quickly. With a small smile of contentment she turned and looked at her mirror, gasping at the shadow by her window, the glowing red eyes giving it an eerie glow.

Scowling, she turned around, "What are you doing in here?"

Gambit shrugged, "I came to ask you out."

"You could have waited until I was done my shower, and you could have knocked."

He straightened and took a step forward, the shadows trying to follow him. "If I had knocked, would you have let me in?"

"No."

"That's why I didn't knock." He smiled when she did. "Is that a yes?"

An eyebrow cocked at him, "Are you that sure of yourself?"

He took another step until he was only an arm's length away, and he shook his head. "No Chere, I'm just hoping. Will you make this Cajun a happy man by letting yourself be seen out with him?"

"Gambit…"

He stepped closer again. Darkness clung to him in the shadowy room, they found home in the folds of his coat, between the strands of his hair and against the stubble of his face; everywhere but his eyes which shone in way that she found hard to look away.

"Rogue I just want to spend some time with you, no questions, no games, no excuses, just you and me now, here in this moment before the world falls down."

Her mind went back to Bobby, and to the conversation they had, and about moments. Rolling her eyes with a smile, she nodded. "Alright; but get out while I get dressed."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't mind staying."

She pushed him to the door. Leaning past him, she swung it open, "Out."

He bowed graciously, "I shall be waiting."

In the hall he waited for the door to close before he leaned against the frame, his hands instinctively reaching for the deck of cards at his waist. He started to shuffle, charging and un-charging cards as he went.

Behind him a voice cleared. The air around his cards started to crackle as he charged them in the cold air; and he knew exactly who was there. He sighed. He really hated the cold.

He turned, "Snow sucks."

Bobby cracked a grin, "I hate Gumbo."

"What do you want?"

Bobby took a step forward, "Just wanted to talk."

"I've had this kind of talk before, Homme and I'm not really a fan of it."

"Oh?"

Gambit nodded, "Yeah, this is where you tell me to stay away from her, and that you still love her."

"I do still love her, but that is beside the point. You didn't know her before Gambit, when she first came here. She has grown up a lot. She's been through a lot, and she's stronger for it.

"Rogue is coming into her own; she's becoming a woman in her own right. She's going to be an amazing one too—more so than she already is. But, I'm not here to tell you to stay away from her because Rogue is her own person and for some reason she likes you."

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

Bobby's grin grew, "Because I do care about her. So, this just a friendly reminder that if you hurt her, break her spirit even a little, or make her think she isn't as strong as she really is, or makes her think she's not as strong as she is, or get in the way, in any capacity, of her, of her growing into who she doesn't yet know she already is, I'll…"

"Hurt me?"

"No, freeze you to the spot and watch as Logan hurt you. She's a part of this family Gambit; and this family takes care of their own."

He turned and walked away, leaving Gambit alone. His mind, still going over everything that Bobby had said, wasn't on his cards, where there was a charge building up to the point where the cards were starting to smolder.

His attention shifted to them when he heard the door open behind him. Swearing he shoved the singed deck into his coat pocket and turned to greet Rogue.

He smiled at her, "You look very nice Chere."

"Thank you. Where are we going?"

He shrugged, "I'll do anything you want to do and go anywhere you please."

"Anywhere?" She smiled, as, after a moment, an idea came to her.

--

Moira held Emma's arm as she disinfected the inside of her elbow.

"What do you remember about the last two months?"

The blonde, still wearing the oversized helmet shook her head, "Hardly anything. It feels like I've been walking around in a fog. I remember pictures of moments from time to time, but mostly just a voice and darkness." She looked over to the bed where Scott lay, "I never thought I would see him again. I believed he was dead."

Logan shifted feet, "You found him and brought him back."

"What? I thought that was a dream." She swallowed hard, searching her memories for some clue as to what happened, "What happened to me?"

Logan was about to speak when Moira, shaking her head, stopped him. "There will be time for that later. Right now, I'm giving you a heavy sedative, hopefully one strong enough and deep enough to allow us to give you an inhibitor before you are taken under control again. You'll be out for most of the night I'm afraid. You'll have everything explained to you in the morning."

She nodded her eyes again on Scott, "Will he be alright?"

Moira nodded, "With any luck, he'll be right as rain by the time you wake up in the morning. Now, please relax, I don't want to lose any more needles due to diamond skin."

She waited until Emma was asleep before looking at Logan, "She'll be alright now, you can go, enjoy the night off."

"What about her?"

With a smile Moira gestured to where Colossus sat, looking after the sleeping Kitty, "I have a feeling that I'll have plenty of company should she wake up. Go."

With a nod, Logan left with the intention of hitting up Harry's Hideout. He could really go for a beer; probably more.

Moira watched him go before moving towards where Kitty was, still prone, and fast asleep. Peter looked up when she came near, "How is she?"

"She had a nasty bruise before she even got hit by the psychic energy. She'll be alright, once she wakes up."

"When will that be?"

"When she finds her way back. You can stay with her if you like. Talking to her might help."

"I wouldn't be disturbing you?"

"Not at all," she smiled at him, "Just keep me posted on her progress." She paused before walking away from him, "Are you sure this is how you want to spend your night off?"

He merely nodded.

Moira, still smiling, quietly went back to her work, which seemed, as long as she stayed at the X Mansion, would never be finished.

She still hadn't found a way to fix what was going on with the Rogue protein. And she didn't dare give it to Magneto until she could find some way of making it easier on him. Despite his power, she knew that at his age he wouldn't make it through such pain.

Oh well, she thought as she moved towards where Cyclops was; He can wait. There were heroes who needed her.

--

The next couple parts will just be the night off, and the interactions of the mutants on the down time. After that… well lets just say that this story is going places I didn't intend, but I like them, and I hope you will too.

I'll hopefully have the next two parts up by Sunday. I hope they're worth the wait.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: As always, not mine.

Author's Note: This chapter and the next are here solely for character development and the growth of relationships between characters. I'm sorry if the flow isn't the best and if it ends at an odd spot.

Basically, this chapter is the first half of the X-Men's night off.

Chapter 17

Gambit looked up, even through the setting sun he could see where they were easily; and he was confused. Beside him, Rogue too was looking up; with her arms wrapped tightly around her. He didn't know if it was to keep out the cold that he wasn't even sure she felt anymore, or to keep her strength in.

"The Statue of Liberty? Isn't this where…"

"Where Magneto brought me and used me and almost killed me? This is it."

He turned to look at her. "Why are we here?"

She swallowed hard, "When I was younger, I made so many plans; I wanted to see the world. This was one of the places I always wanted to see. After Magneto, I had nightmares about it, about being trapped inside with no way out. Have you ever been back to the place where your nightmares are born?"

"No, that is a place were I never want to go back. It was there I saw how far I could go."

"But you came back from there." She nodded to the torch, "I left a piece of me up there. I need to see if it's still there."

"So how do we get up there?"

"Follow me."

--

Peter shifted position, his leg going asleep, and stretched. He held in one hand a sketchbook and a pencil in the other. On the paper was a half finished sketch of the lab. He had thought to draw Kitty, but couldn't bring himself to do it; not while she was still asleep.

The picture forgotten for the time being he leaned forward, "Kitty, please wake up. I am sorry that I failed you. Had I been with you and not watching Magneto, you would still be awake."

He bowed his head, his eyes on the floor.

Kitty was the first friend he made when he joined the institute, she was quickly followed by others, but she would always be special for being the first. They had spent many nights together, as students, before they joined the X-Men, sitting up, talking and laughing and telling stories. She didn't laugh when he said that he missed being at home, she made him feel better with just a smile.

He wanted to tell her how much that meant to him, how much he cherished her being his friend, and how much he cared for her. But he couldn't. It would ruin everything: the easy smiles, the friendly hugs, the natural way that was between them. Besides, she liked Bobby.

Rogue hadn't been the only one who had seen them that night on the ice. Peter had seen them, and he knew the reason that Rogue left, not that he blamed her. That was what had brought them closer together as friends, it was unspoken, but both knew and understood. Besides, after she came back, she needed to have someone, even if she didn't realize it.

"Peter?"

A smiled was instantly on his face at the sound of the harsh, dry voice. In that moment it was the voice of an angel. "Kitty?"

--

Bobby heard a noise coming from the boy's dorms. He followed it until he reached Warren's door. Curious he knocked, wondering what the winged mutant could possibly be doing.

"Warren? Are you okay?"

After a moment's struggle the door opened a crack and a sweaty blond face appeared, "Hey Bobby, can you give me a hand?"

"Sure." He didn't understand what Warren could be so shy about, and what he could need help with. As soon as he stepped in the room, though, he understood completely.

Warren stood in the middle of the room, struggling to get the harness he used to always wear on over his wings.

"It's been so long since I've worn it, my wings don't want to fold down enough for me to synch it tight."

"What can I do?"

"Just, push my wings against my back."

He did as he was asked. He had long before heard that geese had enough strength in their wings to break a man's arm. As he held Warren's he couldn't help but wonder how much strength they held. "Why do you need this thing anyway? You haven't needed it since you joined the X-Men."

"I'm going out," the reply was grunted. Then there was a sigh as the last buckle was fastened and Warren visibly relaxed. "I hate this thing." He said as he turned, trying to move and stretch into a less uncomfortable position. "Moira kicked me out of the Lab and Henry suggested that the best thing I could do was to have some fun and try to forget Miss Frost's powers."

He had put on a shirt and his trench coat while he was talking and now once again turned to Bobby, "Can you tell?"

"That you have an 8 foot wing span tucked under there?" He smiled, "No, not at all."

"Ten actually." He said checking himself out in a mirror, "Oh well, it's not for long. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing."

"Want to come with me?"

"No, I should really stay here and..."

"Mope?"

Bobby rolled his eyes, "Warren."

"You still like her and some other guy with that whole dark and dangerous thing is taking her out tonight. So dress yourself up a little and come out with me. I promise you won't regret it."

"Where are you going?"

"To Sanctuary."

--

Logan sat at the bar. It wasn't a very popular place, no place catering to mutants ever was. Logan had asked Harry once why he put up with the anti-mutant graffiti, the hate mail and the mediocre business. Harry told him that his little sister had been born a mutant, class 1: she was orange, and had a tail as well as extra hair on her arms and legs. She didn't have any powers; she was just a sad, defenseless girl that his parents had charged him with protecting. She was killed by a group of teenagers, and he was beaten up, unable to stop them. He had sworn that he wouldn't be beaten up again for his beliefs, and no one would be hurt in his place, not while he could still stand and fight.

He had always liked Harry, and after hearing that, he had nothing but respect for him. "Another one Harry."

The scent of spice and fresh rain washed over him as the figure it belonged to sat beside him, "Is this how you're spending your night off?"

He shrugged, "It appears so. How are you spending yours Storm?"

She looked up, "Can I have one too Harry?" She looked at Logan's shocked expression, "You don't mind if I join you, do you?"

He shook his head, and took another drink, "Not at all."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Logan looked at her, "So why did you join the X-Men?"

Ororo smiled sadly into her beer, "I joined because I owed the Professor my life, I stayed because... I don't really know why I stayed; only that it was right, it was family."

"Family?"

She nodded, before gesturing out around them, "We're all family Logan—mutants and humans—we are all the same underneath. I am fighting for that family, and for the earth and the future."

"But why? Why do you fight?"

Her eyes met his, "Because, I have to." She looked down and sighed, "You are not the only one with a spotted past, you're not the only one who has seen death and damnation, you are not the only one who have done things that could be considered animal."

"Ororo?"

She looked at him; it was the first time that he had used her given name, the one that was with her through everything good and bad. Storm suited her, but Ororo knew her. The sad smile returned, "My parents and I were buried under a mound of debris. I watched them die, and almost died myself. I was under the rubble for two days before I was found. To this day I do not like tight places. I was left alone, a strange white haired girl in Cairo.

"I learned to steal; I was one of the best pick pockets the city had. But even in Cairo evil seeks out mutants, and people hate. The Professor saved me from the first; and the second gave me my gift.

"I left Cairo, and went to Kenya, I don't know why I picked it, but I went. And they embraced me, and they didn't fear what I could do. They helped me to gain what control I could; they even thought I was a goddess sent down from the heavens to protect them."

Logan almost choked on his beer. "A goddess?"

"Is it that unbelievable?"

"No, just doesn't make sense to go from goddess to teacher."

"Whenever my emotions got away from me, so did my powers. I once caused a tornado that took out half the village. The Professor found me and offered me help. Owing him and myself more than I could ever imagine, I went with him. And I learned and I stayed. And that's my life."

"No, that's just an overview," he told her, "I'm sure you're still hiding a lot."

She laughed and shrugged, "Don't we all?"

He held up his beer, mostly empty, "I'll drink to that."

--

Eric paused before opening the door and flicking on the lights. He was in Xavier's study. And it looked as though his old friend hadn't changed it much over the years. Sitting behind the desk that no one could ever think to sit behind, was the chair that he had been bound, that Eric knew, and in the pit of his soul felt guilt for, that he was the reason for him being bound to it.

"How long ago was it old friend?" He asked the room, "Almost seventeen years? It feels like a lifetime ago when we were on the same side, when we debated the future, when we both pretended we dreamed not so different dreams. You were the first mutant I knew beside myself. Together, we weren't quite so alone.

"How time has changed us both." He moved around the room to where the chair sat, and to see the pictures that were on the desk.

Concentrating, he made the one of the pair of them, black and white and bent and worn, float to his outstretched hand.

He smiled at it.

Yes how time had passed. Setting it down he turned again to the chair, and while running his fingers over the back of it, remembered the night that had changed them both, had separated their causes forever and took away Charles' ability to walk.

How had it happened? A celebration over the opening of the institute, of getting the first class of students assembled, and the first year of studies done. There had been a riot, an anti-mutant statement. One that he could not have walked away from; no matter how much Charles had urged it.

There had been a gunshot, screams, and then Charles, lying on the ground at his feet. He couldn't stop the bullet; he had been too disorientated by the mob to even know to try. But Charles had seen it, and instead of stopping the mind attached to the finger from pulling the trigger, instead of hurting someone else, he had jumped before the bullet, taking what had been meant for Eric.

He had not been as kind. He attacked out at the mob, he hurt them, and he may have even killed some. He knelt down beside his oldest and truest friend; he could feel the bullet then, and where it was in his friend's spine, blood pooling out of the wound.

As sirens approached, he stood, eyes locking with Charles who, even through his pain, was more worried about the clicking in Eric's brain as decisions slid into place—decisions that would separate their causes forever and turn them into enemies instead of friends—than he was about his own life. One of the hardest things Eric ever did was done that night, as he stood and walked away, watching from the shadows as Charles was put into an ambulance but the very same kind of scum that tried to kill him.

Magneto sighed as he turned away from the chair, away from the memory that he still felt guilt about.

With the door open, about to leave, he looked back once more, "I'm sorry old friend, for that night, and for those yet to come."

--

Okay, so that's the first part of the X-Men's night off. The other part is a little shorter and in much the same fashion.

I took Xavier and Magneto away from the comic-verse history because it fits better for the other changes I'm making in chapters to come. I love the thought of Charles sacrificing himself for Eric; despite his bad qualities I think it would be something a younger Charles would do.

As always, thanks for taking the time to review.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: Here is the second part of the X-Men's night off.

Also, if anyone hasn't checked out the Wolverine Trailer (thank you gambitfan85 for telling me about it) please try to find it and check it out. Most web sites have taken it down, but it looks SO good. By the way, can anyone who saw tell me if they have the sneaking suspicion that Emma Frost (the blonde in the trailer who got all crystal-like and shiny and stopped bullets) is in it? Hehe, I am so excited about this movie!

Okay, enough about that, back to the story.

Chapter 18

Even in the dark he could see her shaking. It seemed to get worse with everything she touched, and every step she took. He admired her in that moment. In a discussion with Scott he had only gotten scant details about what happened on Liberty Island, on that very spot, but it was enough to know that it took everything she had to return there.

She hesitated at the door leading to the touch.

This was it. This was where she almost died and had no way out. This was where she first tasted power and a mind so powerful and full of torment, hatred and pain. This was where she lost the girl she had been. This was where her innocence had finally left her after holding on for so long. It only took her a while to fully realize it.

Remy took his trench coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders, holding her in his arms.

"You sure you want to do this?"

"I have to do this." She paused a moment more, "Remy, please stay with me."

He kissed her hair, "For as long as you'll let me." He stood by her, and held her gloved hand in his.

Inhaling deeply, she turned the knob and pushed.

She blinked.

They had repaired it. There was no sign anywhere of what had happened to her. The torch had been replaced, the metal fixed where Logan had cut it… it was as though her worst memory had been cancelled out for everyone—everyone but her.

She felt Remy's grip tighten, and she smiled.

So this was that moment: the moment that everyone inevitably goes through. The moment that you learn that there really aren't any monsters in your closets, that time moves forward with or without you, and that memories aren't always true. She looked at the man beside her. It was also the moment when you learned what and who you needed to stand by you to face those monsters and memories and to move forward.

She smiled, looking out over the glittering city, and actually enjoyed the view.

--

Peter couldn't help his smile, as he leaned forward to where Kitty laid, "Kitty? Are you okay?"

Her hand was against her head, and her eyes were closed, but she nodded, "I think so. What happened?"

"You were overwhelmed by psychic energy. You've been asleep for over three hours now."

"You've been here since then?"

Blushing, he nodded, "I was supposed to watch your back, but I couldn't. I am sorry."

She smiled at him, he was the sweetest man she had ever known—her gentle giant. "It's not your fault Pete." She reached over and squeezed his hand, not getting over how small her hands always looked next to him, "I'm a big girl, top of my class, I should be able to take care of myself." Her free hand once again went to her head as a wave of nausea overcame her, "Although I think I lost a few IQ points on that last knock to the head."

"Would you like me to get Moira?"

"No," she told him as he helped her to sit up, taking extra care to make sure the pillow was just right, "I would like you to tell me what I've missed."

He sat back, pleased that her hand still rested against his, and he began to talk.

--

Sanctuary was a Nightclub in what could be called the "Dangerous" part of the city, not that the label worried most of those who went there; to the mass public, they were all Global Enemy Number 1.

"It's a mutant paradise," Warren explained as they walked, Warren feeling at ease in the night, despite having to hide. He had come across Sanctuary the year before, when he was still at war with who he was. When he was there, he didn't have to worry that his father couldn't meet his eye, everyone admired him, his wings, his grace and charm. When he was there he wasn't torn with who he was born and who his father wanted him to be. There he was Warren Worthington the third, the Angel.

That night, as he walked with another lost soul towards the dark and dirty alley that hid the entrance to the private club, he needed that reminder again.

He knocked on the heavy metal door, a slot slid open, "Hey Warren, who's this?"

Warren nudged Bobby forward, "Show him what you can do."

No where near as comfortable or confident in that moment and strange place as his companion, Bobby stepped forward, holding his hand in view of the slot and started to frost up.

The slot slid shut and the door opened.

Warren led the way through, "Thanks Maggott."

"How often do you come here?" Bobby whispered to him as his eyes got adjusted to the different type of darkness.

"I used to come here all the time before joining the X-Men." He leaned closer, "The ladies love the wings."

Even as he spoke he was removing outer layers of clothing until he was down to the tank he wore and his harness. As he was unbuckling the last strap he looked around, "Heads up!"

He sighed as his wings spread out in an impressive display that lived up to his namesake. His smile grew as he felt eyes fall upon him. Yes, that was what he needed.

"What?" He asked Bobby as he handed in his things to the girl working the coat check.

"Nothing." Bobby said as he recalled how Warren looked when he first joined the institute. He couldn't help but wonder which version of him was true: the scared unsure man, or the confident one before him. Maybe both were. Maybe Warren was coming into his own as all people are said to do. "So this place is all mutants?"

"There are some humans who come here, very few and from what I've heard they have to go through some sort of initiation to be granted access." He looked out over the dark night club, "This, my friend is Sanctuary."

"Angel!"

He spun around when a girl threw himself into his arms, "Allison! How are you?"

"I was worried when you didn't show up for awhile. I always love it when you watch me sing."

He smiled before introducing her to Bobby, "Bob, this is Allison Blair, she goes by Dazzler, an amazing voice and an amazing gift."

The short haired blonde blushed. "Oh go on. So how do you know each other?"

Warren stood straight with pride, "We're both X-Men."

There was a rumbling behind him as a large man stood up and grasped them both on the shoulders, "X-Men? The X-Men are traitors to their kind! I ought to smash you both where you stand."

Warren tried to turn, finding it impossible, "Now Beef…"

"Beef?" Bobby blurted before he could stop himself. The look that the self-appointed Beef gave him made him wish that he had.

"You don't like my name traitor?"

Both X-Men winced as he squeezed. They exchanged looks, "We're not getting out of here without a fight are we?"

Warren shook his head, "I don't think so."

"Well you wanted to take our minds off of what's going on at home," Bobby said, grabbing a hold of Beef's arm as he iced the floor, "It looks like you just got your wish!"

--

Storm shook her head at the number of bottles that sat beside her companion, "Did you ever think that your drinking habits might have something to do with your spotty memory?"

He shrugged, "Healing factor remember."

"I didn't think that neurons could regenerate."

He stopped, the bottle half way in his journey to his lips, "That's something to ask the Doc about." He said with a smile as he took a swig.

"How old are you?"

"Older than my memory."

She laughed, "Okay then, how old do you think you are?"

"I dunno; old. I have dreams some times about war, with Germans." He looked at her a moment. He had never seen her smile that often in all the time he'd known her. She was always strong and stoic. He liked it when she smiled. After a moment's thought and comparison to himself he had a hunch as to why she didn't do it more.

He again focused on his beer, his throat clearing, "Do you still love him?"

She was taken aback, "Who?"

He shrugged into his beer, "Whoever you're mooning over."

"I don't moon over anybody."

He didn't reply.

It was her turn to look at her drink, her smile once again turning sad as she remember what always hurt. "His name is Forge."

Logan smiled, pleased that she was sharing it with him; pleased enough that she was woman enough to love. "Who is he?"

"He was an X-Man once upon a time; he helped to build and design most of the Institute's lower levels: the X-Jet, the security features and the Danger Room."

"What happened?"

"Duty happened. He built things, it was his gift, and he didn't believe in fighting because it destroyed. For someone who liked to create, destruction is not a viable option."

"He didn't like it that you wanted to fight?"

"No."

"Where is he now?"

She shrugged, "I think he's building things for some government or another. I haven't talked to him for years now."

"And you still love him?"

She looked up, meeting his eye, "Do you still love her?"

He didn't have to ask who know who she meant. Looking down, he nodded. "Point taken."

They sat that way for a few moments, unable to meet each other's eyes, unsure of what to say. After a moment and another beer Logan shook his head, "Really, a goddess?"

--

He was dreaming. He knew he should be awake, but something was keeping him in place. She was keeping him there.

Jean.

"Scott," with tears in her eyes she embraced him, holding him close to her, "I'm sorry Scott."

Holding her tighter than life itself he shook his head, "No, that was Phoenix, not you. You put me back together after she tore me apart. I know you Jean, you don't hurt people."

Pulling herself away she looked into his eyes, "I wish I could believe that, but I have done too much to let me think otherwise. I don't trust myself Scott."

"I do." He held her again, in the darkness of his mind, the memory of the woman who had brought him to life, and saw so many others brought to death. "I always will."

She turned away from him, "You shouldn't." Inhaling deeply she put a smile on her face, "So, Emma has returned."

"She tried to kill us."

"She saved your life Scott. I always told you she had a soft spot for you."

"It didn't matter, I had you."

Her smile fell, "And now I'm gone. You have to live Scott, you have to protect them, you have to move on. I want you to be happy."

"With Emma? You always hated Emma."

"That's because I knew you liked her too." She looked above her, "You need to go back."

"I want to stay with you."

She shook her head, and for the first moment he could see her strain, "No, you have to go. I can't keep her back for long."

"Her?"

"She's a part of me, she always will be." Her face serious, she pushed him away with a telekinetic shove, "Now GO!"

It was a sensation similar to surfacing in water after spending a long time at the bottom. Everything was foreign, even the things he knew that he knew.

He looked around, sitting up. Next to him Emma slept, and across the room Kitty and Peter were smiling at him.

Smiling back he looked down at his arms, which once again felt empty.

--

"Do you think we'll make it?" She asked after a long silence.

She was sitting with Remy, his coat still around her and her tucked into a nook in his arm. Ever since she touched Magneto again, she had felt different. Her skin and muscles and limbs and they way they reacted to her, it was all different and strange. She hadn't felt like herself in a long time. She didn't know if it was because she was getting used to the change, or if it was being with him, but for the first time since it happened, she felt like a normal mutant. It was nice.

She felt him shrug, his head settled snuggly on top of her head; "I don't know Chere. But from what I've seen, the X-Men fight with their all."

"Are you going to stay? And fight?"

He leaned back, looking at her, "You know, no one has asked me to stay and fight. I think they all assume that I am."

"I'm asking you."

"Would you like me to stay?"

"I can't ask you to fight for something that you don't believe in Remy."

He moved her chin so that she was looking at him, "This Onslaught, he sounds like a pretty bad guy. Right?" She nodded against his gloved hand, "So if someone doesn't stop him, there's a good chance that he'll try to take over the world and smite millions just because he can?"

"Probably."

"Then the first he'll smite are those who tried to stop him. The X-Men. You. And Rogue, I've done a lot of things that I find hard to live with, I don't want to add letting you die to that list. So, I'm going to stay."

She smiled at him, "You didn't promise."

"I didn't have to. This isn't a promise that can be broken, or one that I don't intend to keep. This is fact."

Turning her head away from him she looked once more over the torch's edge, at the water and city beyond them both growing lighter with the approaching dawn, "So, what do you want to do now?"

"You ever watch the sun come up from up here?"

She shook her head, "No."

He pulled her closer to him, "Then I vote we do that."

"Thank you Remy, for everything."

"You are welcome Rogue."

Inhaling deeply the smell of the moment, a mix between cigarettes, ocean water, and musk, she let go of everything else. Those doubts and fears could wait for the sun. Right there, in the tender area between night and day, she was everything she wanted to be. She was strong and brave and safe.

She wished that she could imprint her own memories as well as she could other people's souls, because right then, in that perfect moment between worlds, she could actually call herself happy. Well, as happy as an untouchable mutant preparing for war was allowed to be.

But until that moment ended, she'd take it.

--

Sorry that this took so long to get out; I've been jumping ahead in the fic. All I can say is that this story is taking itself in its own direction. I'm really interested in seeing where it goes, and I hope you are too.

Next part, they start planning the war.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Still not mine, although I have asked nicely.

Author's note: I should have mentioned this in prior sections, but I have never been to New York and therefore have also never been to the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. So if I got any part of those scenes wrong, that's why and I apologize. I'm just a friendly Canadian, much like Wolverine. Haha.

Chapter 19

The sun was just fully taking its place in the new day's sky when Warren and Bobby returned to the institute. Bobby's lip was bleeding and his left eye was swollen but other than that and a bruised rib, he was perfectly fine, beside's his shirt which was a casualty of the fight. Beside him Angel held his left arm close to his body, and he limped slightly as he walked.

They had flown back to the institute after they escaped the fight which had quickly become a brawl, one which swiftly attracted the attention of the police.

They hadn't spoken since they were safely away from Sanctuary until they reached the main gates. Only then did they look at one another with relief.

"Not the evening that I had in mind," Bobby allowed as he led the way through the main gates.

"It certainly took my mind off of things." Warren said with a laugh, "Only I don't think we'll be welcome at Sanctuary again. Pity; I really liked that coat."

Bobby stopped and looked at him, "We barely escaped from Beef and his power high friends, and you're worried about your coat?" He pointed to his face, "I'm bleeding, and you're worried about your coat?"

"Do you know how hard it is to find a coat that can fit over ten feet of folded wings? Besides, girls dig wounds."

"Scars, they dig scars; not open wounds."

Warren sighed, "Then hope it doesn't heal well. I was going to offer to heal it for you, but now, I'm not." They paused at the main door. "Do you think we're going to get into trouble?"

Bobby nodded, "Most likely."

"It was a fun fight," Warren murmured as they opened the door, "I think Allison was really impressed with how I handled myself."

Bobby rolled his eyes. Warren jabbed him in the side with an elbow, apologizing when Bobby winced. "Sorry. You have to admit, it was a fun fight."

Bobby couldn't help but smile as he led the way into the mansion, "It really was."

They broke into a laughter that quickly faded when they went into the parlor, where Kitty and Peter sat, laughing.

"Hey, are we late?"

The pair looked up; Kitty's jaw dropped. "Oh my God Bobby look at your face," she got off the couch and darted for the pair, "What happened?"

"We got kicked out of Sanctuary." Bobby told her as he shooed away her fingers as they tried to touch his tender eye, getting angry when she phased through his attempts to stop her. "Listen, I'm glad that you're okay, but quit it."

Peter, pushing away his disappointment, stood and joined them.

Bobby focused on the giant man, "Anyone notice yet that we didn't come back?"

Peter nodded, "Yes, but they are more concerned that Rogue and Gambit have yet to return."

Bobby blinked, hoping against hope that the way he felt inside wasn't showing on his face, "They didn't come back?"

Kitty shook her head, looking down, "No; and neither are answering their phones. There has been talk of diverting Cerebro from finding Onslaught to search for them." Not looking anyone in the eye she turned and, phasing through Peter, started to walk away, "We better get going there's a briefing starting at 8:30 sharp."

--

Most of the X-Men and Magneto had gathered at 8:25 when Rogue and Gambit strolled into the briefing room.

Logan and Storm looked up at them, "Have a good night?"

Rolling her eyes, Rogue sat between Peter and Warren, across from… "Bobby, what happened to your face?"

"We got in a fight."

They looked up when Scott came in, a frown on his face, as he looked at Gambit. "You're late."

"Traffic was a bitch?"

"Where did you go?" Peter asked her casually.

"Statue of Liberty."

Logan caught her eye, "Why would you want to go back there?"

"Why did you want to go back to Alkaline Lake?"

His response was cut off when Emma joined them. Scott looked up at her and gestured towards the seat next to him. Her expression as cold as her namesake, Emma sat, and tried to remain calm as Scott spoke.

"Hank, Moira and I spent the morning briefing Emma and we are confident that she had no control over her actions. So let's put to rest what happened and move forward to the goal of defeating Onslaught."

Magneto sat forward, "We must assume that Onslaught knows everything we do up to this moment. I suggest implementing a 24 hour inhibitor policy."

"Hank has volunteered to make arrangements for all the students here to go home. They will be safer apart than they will be together." Storm told them before standing, "That just leaves those of us fighting to worry about. I've tried to contact past students and allies of the X-Men to find those willing to help. Unfortunately, so far I was only able to find two." She moved to the door and gestured for those standing outside to join them.

"Most of you remember Kurt," she said as the blue mutant joined them and bowed in greeting.

"I am proud to serve with you."

Storm then looked to the woman behind him, tall and pale with light brown hair, that under the light looked almost green. "And this is our old friend, Lorna Dane-Summers."

Scott was the first to stand and greet the woman, "Lorna, its good to see you again. Alex couldn't come?"

"He's helping with the clean up in Scotland. He wished he could come, but unfortunately you have to settle for me."

As Lorna was introduced to Remy as Alex's wife, Wolverine couldn't get over the eerie sensation that filled his skeleton. It was the sensation that he only ever got from Magneto. He sighed, another magnetic mutant.

He met her eye, "You can manipulate metal."

She smiled, an eyebrow raising, "A gift I inherited from my father." She said as she looked to where Magneto sat, "I couldn't believe it when Ororo told me you were here."

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures my dear." He looked at Ororo, "You called her here to watch me?"

"Just because we need you don't mean we trust you." She allowed before looking at Moira, "How is the Rogue protein coming along?"

"I have been working with samples from both Rogue and Logan, and I think I've identified the proteins with the healing factor. I'm going to start synthesizing it within the hour."

Lorna looked at the doctor, "It may help if I was there for the procedure. We have always been opposite poles; our powers are stronger when we are near one another. It may give him strength."

Moira nodded before looking once again at the assembly, "There may something else that I can offer to balance this fight." She looked at Gambit, "During my examination of Gambit, I detected microchips on parts of his cerebrum. He has told me they are pathway dampeners, and were put there as measures for decreasing his mutant abilities.

"He and I have discussed this and he has agreed to let me deactivate them, increasing his power output by his estimates, anywhere from 20-40."

"Remy, are you sure you want to do this?" Rogue asked him, his memories telling her how afraid of that prospect he really was.

He nodded and grinned, trying to hide from them both how uneasy he was at the prospect that faced him, "Oui, no one better blame me if I take off an arm though."

Scott looked at him, "We'll help you get control. That's what we do here." His focus then widened to include everyone present. "We don't know how much time we have. Emma will be tracking Onslaught with Cerebro, and while she does I want everyone not already fitted with a uniform to do so. Logan and I will be running simulations for the team while Storm tries to track down any other possible allies. Alright everyone lets get ready for this fight."

--

Rogue followed Gambit from the room, stopping him, "Remy, why didn't you tell me you're doing this?"

"Are you worried?"

"Yes. The part of you inside of me is scared, scared of losing control again. Why are you doing this?"

He reached out a hand and smoothed her hair, "I told you Chere, I'm fighting this fight. It's my penance for all the bad things I've done. If you're strong enough to face the demons of your powers, I can be strong enough to face mine. Besides, maybe Cyclops is right, maybe I can get control."

"Do you want me to go with you while you get it done?"

Kissing her gloved hand, he shook his head, "Non Chere, you've seen me in pain enough. I'm doing this for me, not you."

--

The procedure was simple, taking less than ten minutes. It was simply finding the right frequency of electro-magnetic pulse to make the implants ineffective. Not knowing how it would go, and still feeling sorry for the last miscalculation she made where Gambit was concerned, she opted to sedate him, just to be sure that he would feel no pain, should something go wrong.

After checking on Magneto's progress with the Rogue protein and making sure that Gambit was still showing no signs of discomfort, Moira went to work cleaning up her work station as she waited for the Cajun mutant to recover. The marble surface was covered in samples that were taken from Rogue, Logan, Gambit and Magneto in the short time that they had been in her care. No longer needed, she started to dispose of them, cursing under her breath as one of Logan's blood samples fell onto Rogue's.

Her attention quickly fell upon the mess, and the reaction that the two samples made together. She knew what should happen when clashing blood types came together, and what she was seeing wasn't it.

Looking at it under the microscope, she couldn't believe her eyes, and as she sat back she couldn't help but borrow a phrase from her fellow doctor and long time friend, "Oh my stars and garters…"

--

Rogue walked into the med-lab two hours after Gambit had left her, wearing her uniform, having been called away from a training session. She took a quick glance around and apart from Eric sleeping with Lorna hovering in a meditative pose beside him; the place was empty, except for Moira.

She stepped towards the doctor, "You wanted to see me?"

Moira nodded with a smile, "Yes, I just wanted to take another blood sample. I discovered something truly unusual with your last blood sample, nothing to be alarmed about, but scientific curiosity is what got me into this business, so I just want to look into it some more before chaos again resumes."

Nodding Rogue sat down on an exam bed and allowed Moira to set to work, "How is Gambit?"

"Shaken, but I believe he is taking to the power increase as well as can be expected. I believe he is with Ororo now working on control. If anyone can teach him that, it's her."

"And Magneto?"

She shrugged as she uncapped a needle, watching Rogue's expression carefully as she continued, "You'll feel a pinch. Everything seems to be going smoothly, I don't know if all of it is due to the changes I made or Lorna's presence, but whatever it is, it seems to be working."

"You don't sound happier."

"Pride in scientific accomplishments only goes so far when compared to the knowledge that you're giving a madman back his key to ruling the world." Inhaling deeply she took a step backwards, "How do you feel?"

The young mutant shrugged as she set about recovering her skin, "Fine, should I feel otherwise?"

Moira couldn't help but smile, "No, you aren't actually. Thank you Rogue."

Rogue smiled as stood, hearing a ring tone coming from Moira's lab coat pocket she allowed her eyebrow to raise. "I thought you weren't supposed to use phones around medical equipment."

"It's the Muir Island's staff emergency number. Excuse me." She moved away from her as she hit the talk button. "Hello?"

"Moira? It's Dr. Jenson, there's been a problem."

"What happened? Are the patients alright?"

"They are safe. Moira, your son has been taken. It happened so fast; one moment he was there, the next he was gone. I'm sorry Moira, I don't know how it happened, the only people who knew he was here was you and me and…"

It felt like the air had been kicked out of her. "…And Charles. Thanks Paul, I have to go."

Moira looked to Rogue, "Onslaught has my son."

--

When I began this story, I thought it was going to be 10 parts or so and very basic, but quickly I found out that this story was going to be anything but basic and short. But it was here, at this point where I went, "Whoa! Where is this story going?" I'm still like that. I hope you are too.

Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. It means a lot to my little writer's heart.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Not mine, so don't sue

Author's Note: So, this is where this fan fiction starts to take on a life of its own. Please see the end of this chapter for my apology/explaination. I would do it now, but it would spoil the chapter.

Chapter 20

"What do you mean Onslaught has your son?" Scott asked the pacing woman. They had gathered together shortly after hearing the news. None of them present even knew she had a son, but something in her tone was more than motherly worry, and they aimed to find out what it was.

"Why would he want a child?"

Moira shook her head, "He isn't a child; he's 17."

Ororo stood and moved to Moira, trying to calm her down, "I know you're worried, but until you tell us what is going on, we won't know how to react."

Nodding, Moira sat, her clenched fists growing white and shaking slightly from nerves. "David, my son, is a psionic. He was never very mentally stable, his powers manifesting was very traumatic, and he quickly developed safe blocks to keep him sane. No two parts of his abilities work at the same time. When he can use his pyrokinetics, he is full of energy and is violent. In the moments that he's David he shows no more power than empathy. Most of the time he's in a catatonic stupor. In those moments, he acts as a living Cerebro, amplifying psychic powers. Together he and Charles are like Lorna and Magneto, each strengthening the other.

"I was hoping as Onslaught he wouldn't remember who David was. David was always weak to resist Charles."

"Why?"

With tears in her eyes Moira's met Ororo's. "Because David always wanted to make Charles proud of him; he's Charles' son."

Scott looked to Storm, ignoring the impact that the announcement made on all those present. The personal implications of the situation were put aside at the realization that Onslaught had a psychic generator. "Where are we standing with getting allies?"

"Magneto suggested looking for Pyro, but he's gone missing."

There was the sound of a clearing throat behind them as Lorna entered the room, "Sorry to interrupt but you wanted me to tell you when Magneto was stable." She focused on Storm, "I overheard what you just said about Pyro and I should also tell you that before coming here, I contacted Wanda and Pietro, Magneto's other children, but I couldn't find them. If Onslaught is looking for mutants weak to resist him, my half siblings would be among them, especially if he wants persons of power. They spent most of their youth under Xavier's mental shields, keeping them hidden from Magneto and his influence."

Scott inhaled as his eye drifted from Lorna, to Hank and finally falling on Storm, "So we can assume that he has Pyro, Wanda and Pietro, as well as his very own power generator."

"From what I remember of them, Wanda and Pietro are at least upper class 3 to class 4. Pyro is also class 4, as is Charles," Storm mused aloud, "being amplified I don't know how strong that would make him or his influence on the others. And we don't know yet, who else he may have with him."

Hank shook his head, "Ororo has a point. Even with our powers combined, we will very likely not stop him, not without an edge."

Moira inhaled deeply, her face pale and eyes red with held back tears, "I think I have that edge." She swallowed hard, it was only a hunch, one that she was very sure would work; one that could either end up saving them all or one that would end up damning them all in the worst of ways: through an ally and friend.

With a shaking breath she stood up and focused on her hands, turning white as she clutched the edge of the table as she spoke. "I know Charles, and you can be sure that he will expect Eric to face him and to have his powers; he knows that Scott and now Emma are with us. He might even expect Lorna and Kurt's presence, but I think I know something that he won't expect--a telepath."

Scott shook his head, "Emma is no match for his powers. No offense."

"None taken. I should be able to break at least some of the others of his grip on them, but Scott is right, I do not have the power, especially if his is boosted as we think it will be."

"I wasn't talking about Emma."

"Then who?"

"I ask that you bear with me for a moment. While I was working on the Rogue protein to be given to Magneto, I noticed something astonishing about Rogue's blood sample. When given on a blood-to-blood level, the rate of assimilation is almost instantaneous. I have been looking into this, and not only is it quicker, but with tests I have also determined that there is no transference of memories."

Rogue sat forward, "Tests? What? How?"

"This morning when I was taking samples, I also gave you a dose of my blood since we have the same blood type. If there was memory transfer you would have gained some of my memories, some of my medical knowledge, but you didn't. I know that your power works on this level, so I can only assume that on a blood-to-blood transfer, only powers and abilities would be transferred."

Logan shook his head, this sounded familiar, and as his stomach turned he knew what was being suggested, "I don't like where this is going."

Storm looked around, "Are you saying we should dope Rogue up on telepathic blood?"

"In essence..."

Logan's fist slammed against the table. "No! I won't let you make a weapon out of her."

"Without a formable telepath how can we beat him?" Moira asked, using the table as a brace, not willing to back down, not to this, not when the stakes of them losing were so high for everyone involved—now even her.

"We'll find another way."

Her lips started to tremble as she met his eyes, "When? When my son is dead? When more mutants are under his control? When nations fall?"

Pale, the voices in her mind whispering thoughts that she found hard to push aside, Rogue inhaled, for the first time truly aware of the argument that was happening around her, "Logan, listen to her, please."

"Stripes, how can you be thinking of letting her do this?"

Rogue's voice shook as she met Moira's eye, "I have a feeling that compared with WHO she's suggesting, what she's suggesting ain't half bad."

It was Scott's turn to lean forward, a tingling up his spine told him that he wasn't going to like what came next, "Just who are you suggesting to use?"

"The only psychic I know who was ever a match for Xavier—Jean Grey."

Letting out the breath that she had been holding, Rogue sagged against her chair, as Scott and Logan stood in unison, "No!"

"Sit," Storm commanded before looking at Moria, "How? Jean is dead."

"In the storage lab I found blood samples from most of the X-Men and some of the students. I originally thought to use Charles' own sample, but the chance is too great that he could break through it or even use it to his advantage. Jean, however, and her power, frightened Charles, even if he didn't admit to it."

"As it should," Ororo allowed, "She was formable."

"Rogue would not receive any of Jean's personality besides what she already has; she would only have Jean's powers."

"And none of her control." Scott told her matter-of-factly as Logan turned away.

Emma shrugged, "I think its safe to say that even Jean lacked control over the power inside her."

Seeking out his guidance and opinion, Rogue looked to him as his back tighten. "Logan...?"

He turned and started at her, "No! I remember the last time Jean was allowed out with no control. I am not going to kill you Kid."

Moira nodded, she had worked out the math, and Logan wasn't going to like just how right he was on that fact. "That would be correct, for in order for this to work, and for her to have any chance of surviving this procedure, she would need a dose of your powers first Logan."

"So we would have an invulnerable, super-strength, heightened senses, healing factor, telepathic, telekinetic without any control, can anyone else see this going badly?" Bobby said breaking into the conversation for the first time, looking at Rogue, his jaw tightening. "You can't be seriously thinking about doing this; you didn't have to face her..."

"Out!" Scott called out, his eyes never leaving Rogue, "I want to talk to her alone."

Rogue's jaw trembled as she watched as everyone left, all watching her back as they filed out. She could feel the voices in her head watching her, knowing more than she did what was at risk and what she was going to do before she ever could. She swallowed harshly, trying to calm her breath before looking at Scott whose jaw was clenched tightly, arms crossed across his chest. She couldn't read his eyes, but the shadow of him in her mind told her that he was worried.

"Rogue..."

She inhaled deeply, "Before you say what I know you are going to say, I'm not Jean."

"A part of you is."

She nodded, "A part of me is you too." Her voice broke as she looked at him, "So Scott, tell me. If this weight fell on you, if this was a risk and a choice that you were faced with, what would you do?"

"I would do it." He sat down beside her, "But you aren't me."

"And I'm not Jean either. I know that it's risky, and I know that I might not even survive the procedure, but... I think I could do it. Everyone in my head is scared, is scared of dying, scared of being taken over by something that they can't fight. Even Jean is scared of seeing the power that she hid from, but I think she wants to help."

"How?"

She closed her eyes and listened, a small smile forming on her lips, "She says she's going to take the excess, the energy that made her Phoenix; she is going to hold onto it, at least until we beat Onslaught."

"You could die."

"I almost did before; I know what it's like." Her throat tightened as tears threatened to fall, over the decision that she had to make, over the fact that there had been really only one choice to ever really make. "Scott, I have so many heroes in my head that it's hard not to want to be one too." She tried to smile at him, "Besides, this may be one of the only times when having my damned powers may save the day."

--

Despite his better judgment and the pit in his stomach that screamed at him that this was wrong; knowing that Moira was right and that they needed any edge they could get in defeating their old mentor, Scott led the way out of the briefing room, to where everyone stood, waiting and worrying.

"Moira, you better be sure about this." He looked around, knowing that if anything went wrong he would hold the guilt strictly on his own shoulders. "Come on, we have a monster to stop."

Rogue couldn't meet Logan's eye as he stopped in front of her, "You're going through with this?"

"Seems that way. The Professor helped to save me, its past time I did the same."

"If you lose control, I won't be able to stop you."

Holding herself together and standing tall she finally looked up to him, her expression tight, hoping her doubts didn't show. "Then let's hope I don't."

She didn't relax until everyone, all holding varying expressions of worry and disappointment, passed. Then she allowed her weakness to overtake her and she slumped against the wall, allowing gravity to bring her to settle upon the cold floor. Feeling him there, she looked up, inhaling deeply before speaking, "What is it?"

Gambit shrugged before taking a step towards her, "Just thinking that you're taking a lot of risks just to out-do me in the power department."

She smiled, "I'm scared."

He sat beside her, "So was I."

"I know that they think I'm not strong enough to have that kind of power. They think I'll lose to it, that I'll be another Phoenix."

"Prove them wrong."

"But what if they're right?" She inhaled a deep breath, for the first time speaking the worry that everyone else had felt--that she, herself felt, "What if I do become what they fear? What if I lose? With healing factor Logan can't stop me; no one here has the power to do anything against me... except you."

"Me?"

"How can healing factor work on a body that is in a million tiny pieces?"

His eyes closed as he realized what she was asking him to do. "Rogue, don't ask this."

She watched him, as he struggled with what she asked him to do. "There is a part of you that wants to live up to your new brother's shadow. There is a part of you that wants to be a hero. I know that's why you're fighting, and it's not because of me, not really, not deep down in that place that you have long told yourself doesn't exist, the part of you that was good and wants to be good again."

"You know, I'm starting to regret kissing you."

"Me too," she confessed to him, "I would have liked to gotten to know you like a regular girl; with conversations and fights and looks, slowly over time and with trust and care. Not by having your mind sifted through my own. But that didn't happen and now here we are—we both want to play hero in a world that doesn't really believe in them.

"I know you don't want to do this; I know you don't want to kill me, but I need to know that there is someone who will stop me if I can't do what I need to do. Please Gambit; promise me that you'll do it."

Wishing for a cigarette, he looked away and nodded; knowing from the tightening in his chest and the fear he easily sensed through the inhibitor she wore that they both thought that it was something that would indeed happen. He hated himself in that moment.

She had been right; he had given in to that part of him that actually wanted to do something good in the world, to wipe out some of the bad. But he knew that he would never be the white knight that Scott painted himself as. He was like Logan, tainted by a past that could never die, and by rules made by a world that watched and laughed as white turn to grey turn to black and then to dust. She was just proof of that truth that he had tried to hide from himself.

"I promise Chere."

--

That night saw those in the mansion in a state of unrest that filled their dreams, drowning out hope of anything else. Nightmares of Jean, dreams of friends and family dead haunted everyone and turned the cool night air almost oily in their sickening reality. It was a night where nightmares were real and where the monsters no person thought true thrived.

In her room Ororo shot upright, sweating and breathing hard. She hadn't had a nightmare that bad since Cairo. She hadn't been that scared since...

"No. It couldn't be."

--

When I first started this story I had no intention of Rogue taking on Jean's power, of Lorna being brought to the team, of Remy having his power increased, of Wanda/Pietro being involved, of Charles and Moira having David as their son, nor of any of the twists that are coming up (or of the sequal that even now the back of my mind is planning). All I can say is that this looks to be an interesting final confrontation.

The direction that it is going in does worries me a little since I have always been annoyed at fanfictions that elevates one character above the rest; where someone does things that you know is out of character or is beyond their capabilities. I am aware of the line that I'm walking giving Rogue both Wolverine's and Jean's abilities, and I hope I am counterbalancing it by not down playing any of the other character's abilities, or making the entire story hinge on her, although she does play one hell of a role.

So please let me know if I take this too close to jumping the proverbial shark. And if it does make the leap I hope it won't, I promise to at least attempt to make it enjoyable.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Not mine

Author's Note: For those of you who are worried that Rogue is going to be a "perfect mutant", this chapter is for you; I like making characters work for it.

This is SO much fun. As always thank you everyone for reading and for your wonderful reviews, please keep them coming.

Chapter 21

No one look rested as the X-Men, now the only beings in the once lively school, all spirits dark, went about their early morning routine. Breakfast was skipped by most, and included little more than coffee and juice for those who partook in the once all important ritual.

Gambit had been working with Storm and Cyclops since his got his implants turned off, and although he still feared to touch organic matter, he felt more confident about his abilities. He was even starting to charge things before he even touched them, although it gave him a headache and left him feeling a static charge for moments afterwards. All in all, he was improving.

Rogue had watched him from the control room with Kitty and Warren, pleased to see that he was indeed doing well. She hadn't slept all night. The whispering in her head was too loud. They were planning something, the shadows in her mind, of that she was sure, she didn't know what it was, or if it was for good or bad, but she was sure it had something to do with what she was going to do in less than twenty minutes. No one had really spoken to her since the announcement was made, that she was going to take on the terrifying powers of their former teacher and friend. Not that she could blame them, no matter how much she would have liked to try.

Sighing, she left the pair, noting that below in the Danger Room they were finishing the lesson, and walked slowly out into the cold hallway. She didn't expect to see Magneto, held up by Lorna, standing there.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "It worked?"

He held up his hand and the turtle necklace she still wore leapt off her neck and gentle fell into his hand. "Still trying to come out of your shell I hear."

"Who told you?"

"Who didn't? Do you really think you can withstand the power that she wielded? Do you think that you can resist better the powers she was born into? You have never channeled power as great as that."

"I channeled yours and walked away."

"Compared to Jean, my powers are a walk in the park. You will die."

Lip trembling at the words he spoke, knowing them to echo the fears she held in her mind and heart, she took a step forward, bent on setting them both straight. A shaking hand moved to her hair, to where the white sat proudly against the chocolate brown. It had been there ever since Magneto forced his powers upon her, and through her, they tempted the fate of nations. "You and your powers gave me this. I keep it, to remind me of that night, of when I almost died, of when I was your helpless victim. It is here to remind me that I will never be that helpless again, not to you, not to me or my powers, not to anyone. For the first time I think I'm strong enough to see that reminder through. This time, I will either win, or I will die. There is no middle ground."

"You're starting to sound like Wolverine," he said with an approving smile.

"Considering how much I've absorbed him, it's about time he started to wear off."

"Let's hope your bravery isn't a foolish as his."

"Thanks for your support," sarcasm filled her tone as she said watching with a frown as he walked away with Lorna's help. Even with everything done to make the transference easier, he wasn't a young man and he would need time to recuperate from his ordeal.

"I support you," a friendly voice said from behind her, "Even if I think you're foolish for doing it."

She smiled and turned, thankful for the giant and for the safety he offered her as he brought his thick arms around her in a tight embrace. "Thank you Peter; I don't know what I would do without you."

"Pray that neither of us find out." Smiling down at her he placed a hand on her shoulder, "I wish I could be with you for this, but Storm is running us through a session soon. Will you be alright alone?"

"She won't be alone," Emma called from behind the pair. With her stood Gambit and Scott. She raised an eyebrow at the skunk-striped brunette, "Are you coming child, or are we starting without you?"

Rogue looked over her shoulder as she led the way to the med lab, feeling stronger with them near her, "Any luck on finding more who'll fight with us?"

"No," Scott informed her, "We've decided to try another tactic, and are now searching for missing mutants."

"Have any hits?"

"Besides of those we know, Juggernut, and two individuals calling themselves Blob and Avalanche, although I've never heard of them." Scott finished as they entered the lab.

Logan was already there, sitting on one of the exam beds.

"What are you doing here?" Rogue asked as Moira placed a blood pressure cuff around his arm.

His frown grew, "Contributing."

"You don't sound too happy about that."

He caught her eye, not even flinching as Moira inserted the needle; "I'm not Kid. I promised you a long time ago that I would take care of you, this wasn't what I had in mind."

She shrugged, "Maybe its now my turn to return the favour. You can't be the big damned hero all the time Logan, although I know how much you love the glory."

With the sample taken Moira moved to her station and placed the long tube of blood under a scanner. "Logan's healing factor," she explained as they waited, "Is constantly improving and leaving newer and newer antibodies in his system. He's a pharmacologists dream. With an updated sample I hope that Rogue will have the best chance at surviving this." She looked at them, "The problem with blood to blood transfer is the rh factor. Rogue has a negative blood type; both Logan and Jean have positive types. The presence of that singular protein in the positive group is enough to kill people. The mixed factors causes the body to react, rejecting the blood, clots form leads to hemorrhaging and asphyxiation."

"No offense Doc," Rogue said from where she stood, her arms tightly held around herself, "But this ain't what I want to hear right about now."

"Right, sorry." She turned her focus to the rest assembled, "I'm going to ask that you wait outside, at least until I get her ready for the injection."

She waited until they had left before gesturing to Rogue to lie down.

Putting on a second pair of gloves she set to work adding sensors and getting a base line of Rogue's normal heart rate, brain patterns and blood pressure. She tried to ignore the look that Rogue was giving her. But after a few moments she sighed.

"What is it?"

"Why did you do it?"

"What?"

"This." Rogue gestured to the wires that now stuck to her, "A couple days ago you hated that I used my powers so readily, now you're helping me take on the powers of one of the strongest mutants the world has ever known. Why?"

"I have spent my entire adult life helping Charles' cause. Helping mutants find control and peace in their lives."

"And I gave up."

"Yes, and then you were given a second chance, a chance to gain control, to master your abilities. Instead, you abused them and you started to steal the powers of others."

"You should check my files again then. Control was something I probably would never obtain, second chance or not. Besides, right or wrong, what I did is no more wrong than you testing me yesterday without my knowledge." She caught Moira's eye again before looking away and shrugging. "I know that I got carried away, but for the first time in my life, I'm actually useful."

Moira nodded, "Very much so."

"So tell me, if it had been anyone but your son taken, would you be doing this now? Increasing my powers?"

"Honestly, no. If you didn't feel so guilty for giving up your powers in the first place, would you be here?"

"No."

Moira smiled at her, "Well then, I think we have reached an understanding." She turned towards the glass, "You can come in now."

The others entered as Moira retrieved the vile of blood from under the scanner.

Emma stood by her head, "If you will let me, I would like to try to sooth any pain you may feel during this."

"Recalling what you did to Warren, I'm hesitant, but alright." It was then something past the glass partition caught her eye. It was Warren. "What's he doing here?"

Scott smiled, "He wants to help, just in the case something goes wrong."

She swallowed hard, realizing that everyone was taking her possible death more seriously than she was. That seriousness was catching up with her then as Moira and Emma worked to secure her arms in place. "Sweet."

She felt and hand close around hers. She looked up into glowing red eyes, "Don't worry Chere, you're not alone."

Moira stepped forward and inflating the blood pressure cuff, started to clean the vein which was growing exposed.

"I'm not going to lie to you Rogue; this is going to hurt like a bitch."

Rogue closed her eye as the adamantium needle punctured the skin. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of stinging as the needle was withdrawn, then the world exploding red around her in pain as the clashing blood types met, that started in her chest and flashing outward.

So this, she thought, was what dying REALLY felt like.

Emma closed her eyes, her hand floating just above Rogue's head, trying to edge her way past the psychic inhibitor. She could just reach the surface of her mind, but that would be enough. She could feel them, looking at her, the corners growing fuller, for the moment all silent. She didn't think that they would be that solid, that real. Amidst them stood Rogue, like the rest in watching the intruder. The Rogue she saw wasn't the one that the outside world saw, no, this one was the Rogue that was still part Marie, that was still scared and unsure of herself. Emma was impressed, Rogue had hidden her well.

She inhaled deeply as she placed over them all, every shadow in every corner and Rogue herself, a veil, shining white, to protect them from what was about to come. Emma just hoped that it was enough to last.

Outside of herself she was aware that the needle was entering, and she held her breath, waiting for what the murmurs around her knew was coming next. She paused a moment, and listened, and as the fire erupted around her, she was scared.

"AHHHH!!" Emma fell backwards, screaming in time with Rogue, who was fighting against her restraints on the bed, sensors around her blaring.

Logan had caught her, "What happened?"

Breathing heavily, she looked around, feeling more disheveled than she would have ever thought possible from a mind as young as Rogue's, "Her mind…"

Scott and Remy exchanged worried looks. "What about it?" Scott asked as Remy took a step closer to Rogue.

"So many angry voices… they forced me out. They…"

"They what?"

An eerie calm overcame her as she recalled what happened seconds before she was kicked out. "They split her—her consciousness—in two."

"How is that possible?" Logan growled, his claws itching to release themselves.

Emma shook her head, "I don't know. We're all in there, so many of us. I did it. I could feel her, the me in her mind, grabbing at my power and manipulating it. She split Rogue in two."

"Why?" Gambit asked, not looking away from Rogue.

Emma closed her eyes, "She said that it was for Rogue's own good." She shook her head, "I don't know what that means."

They were then struck by something strange, something odd when compared to the various beeping at variously fast rates that had been the background during this exchange. In that moment, the beeping was gone and was replaced by one steady tone.

All eyes went to Moira, whose head hung in defeat, "She's dead."

--

Muhahahaha… I know, worse place ever to leave it, but it would be a long chapter otherwise.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Alas, I still own nothing. And for that, I am sad.

Author's Note: not much to say really, so I guess it's on with the fan fiction with no explanations and no excuses; mostly because right now, I have none.

Chapter 22

_All eyes went to Moira, whose head hung in defeat, "She's dead."_

Logan roared, "Then get her back!"

Moira was busy looking at the various readings, "I don't understand; she shouldn't be dead. Her brain activity is off the chart, her temperature is dropping fast, and her bodily signs don't match with her being deceased. Her heart just isn't pumping."

Logan spun around, "Warren!"

"No, just wait," Moira shook her head, the look in her eye causing the young mutant to stay where he was, "Brain activity is leveling off, temperature is rising, muscles are contracting at an increasing rate, she's sweating. Come on Rogue, pull through this!"

Gambit stood back and watched as Moira moved between monitors, and then back to the bluing Rogue. Everything about her looked lifeless, except for her arms and her hands, which were twitching. Something wasn't going as planned, that much Remy knew, and it was Rogue who was paying the price.

Moira stopped and looked to Scott, a sudden thought occurring to her, a thought that she hoped was crazy enough to work; "Middle drawer on the left, give me the syringe."

She rushed to a drawer beside her and retrieved a long needle, made of adamantium and attached it to the syringe that Scott handed her.

"What is that?"

"Pure adrenaline. She needs her heart to start pumping again. If this doesn't work, nothing short of lighting will." She looked to them, "Stand back, they usually react quickly." She stood over Rogue, needle poised over her chest. Moira felt out her ribs. This had to be done right, only one chance, right into the heart. Rogue had been without air for at least 3 minutes by that point, which meant she only had another minute or so left before she couldn't save her.

Taking a deep breath Moira brought the needle down with all her strength and emptied the syringe. A second later Rogue was awake.

--

Gambit had been trained by the best thieves in New Orleans; he prided himself on his reflexes and on his intuition. Both had saved his life many times in the past, and would prove to do so again in the very near future.

He hadn't taken his eyes off of Rogue's hands, the way they tested the bonds, the way it looked as though there was something there, just beneath the surface. He had a feeling that things where going to go very badly very soon.

They did.

As soon as Moira injected the adrenaline, Rogue's heart started to pound, her newly heightened instincts kicking into overdrive, and six perfect bone claws that had thrust their way through her knuckles without caring about the skin that had once been in their way, swung at Moira. He had the advantage of only a few seconds as Rogue broke her way out of her bonds, but that was all he needed. As soon as Rogue was free, Moira was safely away from the claws and his staff was poised between him and Rogue.

He swallowed hard. What had they done to her?

--

Logan just stood there. Anger and guilt and fear washed over him. Rogue had claws. They were bone, but there were there. That meant that he had claws before, and Stryker had only made them better. So he was only ever an animal, and now he had passed it on to Rogue.

He watched as Gambit pulled Moira away from Rogue. The Cajun was good. He was even smart enough to protect himself. Maybe he wasn't so stupid after all.

Beside him Scott and Emma stood in defensive stances, prepared for whatever was coming next. In the back of his head Logan knew what was coming, even though he couldn't remember the details, he knew. It was pain.

--

The fire didn't go away. It was inside of her, her eyes and her ears: there was so much pain. She could smell blood and knew that it was hers, she could hear heartbeats from those around her and knew that they were all afraid, she could taste the bile in the back of her throat and knew that it came from dying; she could see the world sharply and in more colour and detail than she knew was suppose to exist, and she felt the grains of unseen dirt underneath her bare legs as she fell upon the floor. There was too much of it, far too much. The world had too many details.

Logan was beside her then, she could smell him: he knew what she was going through and she knew that he felt guilty. She sank into him, her hands held away from her, strange monsters that she didn't recognize as her own. She sought out his comfort and she cried.

"It hurts so much."

He rocked her gently back and forth, looking to those standing there, "Get ear plugs, sun glasses and a very soft blanket. Go." He then looked at her, "Its going to be okay Rogue, you're going to get through this."

She shook her head, "It's too much. I can hear everyone, I know where they are; they live so loud."

He looked to Moira as she returned with a blanket, "How long will this last?"

She looked down, "I gave her a big dose. It might last a week, maybe two."

"Might?"

"Considering her mutating state, there is a chance that the effects may be permanent."

He growled, hating the doctor in that moment for the possibility that she had damned Rogue to his life, before taking the satin blanket, knowing that even that material would be too much to Rogue's sensitive sense of touch, and wrapped it tightly around her. Scott returned then with the glasses and ear plugs.

"Now leave, everyone." His eyes came to rest on Gambit who hadn't moved a muscle through the entire exchange, "You too."

"Non."

"Her senses are overloading. You care about her; you'll give her some time to adjust."

Reluctantly Gambit left with the others, leaving the two feral beings the only ones in the then dim room.

Left alone, Logan put the ear plugs and glasses in place, and then took her face in his hands, being careful to make sure that hair was between their exposed skin, and looked at her.

"I know what you're going through Rogue, Trust me, I've been there. Focus on your breathing, try to block out everything else, and just breathe."

She shook her head, clamping her eyes shut as she did so; even with the darkened shades, there was still too much light. "I can't. How did you live with this?"

"It almost drove me crazy kid, drove me to become an animal. I'm going to make sure that it doesn't do the same for you. Now Rogue, I know it hurts but, I need you to pull your claws back in…"

--

As with all places where children and adolescence live, news spreads quickly at the mansion and by the time Scott and Remy arrived at the main level, all the students who were left knew what had happened to Rogue.

Kitty and Bobby rushed towards them, "Is she alright?"

"We don't know yet."

"Does she really have claws?"

Gambit shook his head and walked by them, "I need a cigarette."

--

Still mentally off balance from what happened in Rogue's mind, but knowing that for the moment the new feral mutant was better off in Logan's hands, Emma silently moved to Cerebro, intent on trying once more to seek out Onslaught's signal. Had she known who the mutants that were taken were, had some knowledge of their history she could possibly track Onslaught through their signatures. Even as capable as she was, she was no Charles Xavier, and picking one mutant out of all those who existed was like picking a needle out of a haystack when you had no knowledge of what a needle even was. But that didn't stop her from trying.

And as she refined Cerebro's search yet again, she decided to try a different tactic and searched Cerebro's databank for any information on any of the mutants in question.

After twenty minutes of looking through the limited information that Xavier had kept on the Maximoff children, and the only slightly more information present on Pyro; she received a signal that Cerebro had found something.

Shifting her attention to the globe around her, her eyes scanned the red dots until she saw him, Onslaught—and he was looking right at her. He was laughing at her, she didn't know how but she knew he was. Against her better judgment, knowing the danger of thinking too closely about any one soul while in Cerebro, she brought Onslaught towards her, her mental powers reaching out, trying to reach past his mental blocks to where he was hiding, to what he was hiding.

She should have known better, and for her misjudgment she paid the price.

As she reached out, almost to the edge of her power's range, Onslaught reached back, slicing a claw of psychic energy at her, overriding her mind, causing her to withdraw her reach and remove herself from the mental world in which Cerebro existed.

Taking the helmet off, she sagged in the chair that had been brought in at her request, her mind aching. Something hadn't felt right about the attack. Even the likes of Xavier shouldn't have been able to interact with her while in Cerebro. Even boosted there should have been no way, unless… there was something else—something new—with him too.

--

I'm taking off for a couple days and then will be in my final week of summer session, which means that I'm not sure how many updates I'll be able to post before next weekend. So, to leave it in a better place, I give you this update before I go.

Thank you again and again for the reviews.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: I'm not happy with this chapter, mostly with the interaction between Gambit and Kitty. I'm looking forward to what's coming up in the next couple chapters although I'm starting to wonder just how long this is going to be.

Chapter 23

Logan sighed. Rogue hadn't come out of the state of shock that she had been in since reviving. Not that he could blame her. She had died; and came close to not coming back. The adrenaline that had been pumped through her system didn't help to make waking to a new and strange world any better for her either. Nor did having claws.

It took Rogue a lot of pain and concentration to finally contract the killer blades, probably made of bone as invulnerable as she was, he guessed. Since then she had sat in a corner of the now dark lab, rocking back and forth. And Logan had no clue how to help her.

He looked over his shoulder when the main doors to the lab opened and Hank entered, holding a tray of food. Logan quietly met him in the glassed off waiting area.

"I came to see how she was doing," Hank informed him, "And to see if either of you would like something to eat."

Logan shook his head before turning and focusing on the trembling girl, "She can barely tolerate the taste of water right now let alone food."

"And yourself?"

"Not hungry."

Hank set the tray down on a vacant chair and stood beside his fellow feral mutant. "I remember when my powers manifested," he said in a hushed tone, "My senses are no where as keen as yours but, when I got them, they were a shock. I almost had to drop out of school in order to deal with them."

"You didn't have to drop out when you turned blue?"

Not taking his focus off of the girl Hank smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. I wasn't always like this. I was born gifted—smart; I had my undergraduate degree by 16, and was working on a double doctorate when a failed experiment ended up turning me hairy and blue. My mutation gave me beast like strength and agility… and then one day I ended up looking the part. Even with all that, I can't imagine what is going on with her right now, the world she's seeing."

"Neither can I."

"But she has your powers."

"She has my powers now. They've gotten sharper than when they first manifested, of that I'm sure. They were bad, but nothing compared to now. And she's been thrown into it. It's overriding her senses."

"And here I thought you didn't remember your life before you received your adamantium."

Stretching his back, he looked away from Rogue, the girl whom had reminded him that he could die, and now the woman whom had brought him a step closer to remembering who he was. "Neither did I, until she popped her claws. I still can't remember anything that happened, but I know now that its there."

"You're full of surprises," Hank said with a smile, "Let's hope it wore off on her. I'll leave you to it then."

"Hey Hank, thanks."

The blue man smiled, "Its all in a day's work for Mrs. McCoy's bouncing baby boy."

--

Gambit had finally found refuge on the upper level balcony, overlooking the front grounds of the institute. But even the overly spacious grounds were closing in on him. What the hell was he doing there? He wasn't a hero; he was a thief, the black sheep of both his families, old and new. He had been expelled from the guild and the home he knew; he had sold his soul for a solution to a problem that never really went away. He was a murderer.

Then why did he find it so hard to think of doing what Rogue had asked of him?

Not wanting to think about the possible answer he lit his second cigarette, inhaling all the tobacco and tar and toxins that he knew where killing him slowly from the inside out. At one time he invited the slow torturous death, as of late however he no longer felt that way. Perhaps one day he would even care enough to want to quit, but for right then, he would settle for merely being indifferent.

How long had it been since he walked into the mansion? How long was it since Magneto asked him to walk into Rogue's life? Had she picked up that little tidbit when he had kissed her? Was that just another thing she forgave? Or perhaps she was just tricking him like he was sent to trick her; or maybe she was still blind to what he had been asked to do. He could only hope.

His focus so totally split between his musings and his cigarette, he was blind to the outside world and so he didn't sense anyone behind him until he felt their hand on his shoulder...

--

Storm stopped outside of the med lab after hearing from Moira what had happened. Rogue had Wolverine's senses, healing factor and his claws. She silently wondering how both mutants was handling the change. She hoped it was better than Moira, who had been shaking even as she relayed what had happened. Ororo could imagine how that would have affected the doctor. The Scotswoman had been so focused on finding Onslaught, on gaining her son back, to fully realize what could have happened to Rogue; and now she was dealing with the consequences of her actions.

Arms crossed, after moments of staring that the cold surface, she sighed and took a step away; trusting Logan to deal with what Rogue was going through, since only he really knew what could possibly help.

Turning away from the door, her attention was drawn to Cerebro, to where the door had opened and Emma had fallen to the ground her first step into the hall. Pausing only a moment to blink in surprise Ororo rushed to the white clad woman.

She hadn't known the younger woman well, during their joint time at the institute Ororo had spent most of her free time with her friends Lorna and Jean. Even in those days Emma had been cold and pulled back. But now they were allies, fighting the same fight, and even though she tried to stay in control, Ororo knew that she was still unnerved at having that control taken from her. At least with that Ororo could sympathize with; she knew all too well how that felt.

"Emma," she called as she fell to her knees beside the fallen woman. The blonde was still conscious, but only barely. Before she could ask what happened, she was joined by Lorna, the other women crouching by Miss Frost.

"What happened?" Lorna asked as together they helped Emma to sit.

"I don't know. I just found her like this."

Shifting Emma's weight to Ororo, Lorna took a step away, "I'll get Moira."

"No, she's still upset with what happened to Rogue. Get Hank, he has his MD, he can help." She once again turned her attention to Emma, "What happened?"

"Onslaught's taunting me. He knows I can't find him." Her voice was shaking. "I need information on who's with him, maybe I can track them." When she tried to stand, Ororo pushed her once again to the floor. "He's not alone."

Storm swallowed hard, since the night before she had a feeling she knew what was going on, and Emma had just confirmed her worse nightmare true. "I know."

Emma's eyes searched Ororo's. But before Ororo gave anything away she looked away. "You need to rest now; we'll get you the information that you need." Sighing, she stood, "I just don't know how."

"I do," Magneto spoke with a grin from where he stood, several feet away, "I had Callisto make extensive files on most of the mutants in my brotherhood. She even sought out new recruits and made files on them before you electrocuited her."

"Where are they?"

"Taken—as was everything once Mystique gave over everything she knew to the police." He frowned at the reminder of his greatest ally, his dearest comrade; and her betrayal. Although, he knew, in the part of him that would never admit it, that he was to blame for everything that happened to her. "They are keeping it in a security locker in the prison that held me. They have measures in place to stop mutants from gaining access to the knowledge."

"What measures?"

"It is under three floors of reinforced plastic; my magnetism cannot break through. They also have sensors to detect activation of mutant powers. The one attempt I made to retrieve it failed, and the mutant sent ended up gassed to death."

"Tell me everything you know."

--

Kitty had been looking for Gambit ever since he arrived from the sub levels, he had looked more disheveled than normal; and so she took it upon herself to make sure he was alright. She finally thought to look for him on the balcony. Practicing a relatively new trick of walking on air as she phased, she had phased through the ceiling onto the balcony.

He hadn't heard her.

Smirking, she tempted fate and half phased herself as she walked, so that she made no sound as she stepped, and stopped behind him. Either those neural inhibitors really worked or he was really distracted.

Growing concerned she tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

The tall mutant spun around, surprising her, and kicking her feet out from under her, the cigarette in his hand glowing with kinetic energy.

"Ow."

Gambit's shoulders sagged when he saw who had sneaked up on him. Releasing the charge on his now wasted cigarette he reached to help her to her feet.

"Shadow-petite, you should know better than to sneak up on someone in this house."

She held her shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the impact as she let him help her to stand. "A lesson that I think I've learned, thank you very much."

He smiled at her, leaning back against the rail, "So tell me petite, what can this Cajun do for you?"

"I wanted to see how you were. You looked a little rattled when you came from the lab."

He shrugged, "Not as used to seeing a raging mutant as the rest of you are."

She slid up beside him on the rail, "We're used to seeing Logan rage, seeing it in Rogue must have been a surprise to anyone." She shrugged, "It's a good thing Bobby wasn't watching; he would have had a heart attack."

Gambit shifted position so that he was facing her, his forearms resting on the cool cement of the railing. "He still likes her."

Kitty nodded, "And he doesn't like you."

"Trust me Petite, the list of those who don't like Gambit is long."

"How about those who don't like Remy?" She smirked at him, "Sorry, I've noticed that you seem to talk about yourself as though you're two different people."

"Aren't we all?" He shrugged when she looked confused, "It comes with being a mutant, being 'super-human'. We are Remy or Kitty when we forget our powers, and try to lead normal lives. Gambit and Shadowcat are who we are when we are embracing our powers and the lives that come with them. I do it to remind me who is who; sometimes it gets confusing."

"It's an interesting hypothesis," she allowed before sitting a little straighter, "So what about Jean who had no code name or Rogue who now denies her real one?"

"I didn't know Jean. Maybe it was so she could forget this power that everyone is scared of. But Rogue, Rogue isn't as lucky as the rest of us; she can't separate the part of her that wants to be a regular woman from the part that uses her power. She tried before, and look where it got her." He wasn't sure why he was opening up to Kitty, to the slip of a girl in front of him, with large eyes that sought knowledge and understanding. As he let his guard down around her, he didn't have to wonder why she held the affections of both Iceman and Colossus.

Kitty looked away from him, to her boots that dangled off the floor, "Then why does everyone like her?"

Gambit was taken aback by the question, by the bluntness of it and by the honesty in which it was asked. "Rogue?"

She nodded, "Yeah, first Bobby, then Peter, and you. Heck even Logan has a little crush on her."

"Not in the way you mean," he assured her. It was true that Logan was fond of the southern girl, but Gambit had sensed for himself that the affection wasn't romantic, however reciprocated it was. "Why are you so worried about Rogue, Petite?"

She shook her head, she shouldn't have blurted that out, she should have kept quiet. She blamed Remy, for being so relaxed and casual—he made having conversations as painless as breathing. As she looked away from him she was sure that he could charm the devil himself if he had half a mind to. "You think she's going to steal the Tin or Ice men away from you?"

She reddened, even as she shook her head, "They aren't mine. I just don't get it. Is it the challenge of not being able to touch her? Do guys feel sorry for her? If you are just going to get hurt, why bother?"

He fell silent a moment and looked out over the grounds. In the back of his mind he knew that he had asked himself the same questions that she did, what was it about the untouchable that made you want to step near? Finally, after having found himself no answers to those questions, he shrugged and looked at her once more, "Remy don't know. But maybe they admire her?"

"Admire her?"

"Her powers let her see the darkest secrets that we don't even let ourselves see. How many people do you know can keep that kind of secret and still look someone in the eye and tell them that they are good? How many do you know who can hold all the darkness of everyone they've touched inside of them and still see the light?"

"Is that why you like her?"

He grinned at her, "That, petite, is something that only Remy and Gambit know."

A voice cleared behind them. Turning, they saw Storm coming towards them, a small smile upon her lips.

She focused on Gambit, "Just how good a thief are you?"

Their eyes locked for a moment, and when their gazes broke Remy lifted the hand nearest Kitty, a golden chain with the Star of David hanging from between his fingers.

Kitty looked at the chain before her hand flew to her left wrist where it usually sat. "Hey, that's mine."

Satisfied, she looked between the pair, "Good, come on. There's a special mission, and you two are coming with me."

--

Logan moved back towards Rogue, watching as she rocked back and forth, under her breath she was counting. Focusing on her, he brought himself down to her level, "What are you doing?"

"Counting heart beats… so many, so different." She looked past him, her rocking for the moment ceasing, "Emma's is racing, Gambit's is strong, like Cyclops', Ororo's is scared."

"Scared?"

She nodded, "Or angry, or both. I'm not sure." Her hands moved and cupped her head, it burying safely against her knees, "Logan, I can't keep it straight."

"I don't know how to help you Kid."

Her head lifted, and her eyes, even through the darkness of both room and sunglasses met his, "I do. I have some of your memories, I know that you can filter it, control it, but I don't know how, I didn't get it." She pulled a shredded glove from a shaking head and swallowed hard, "Please Logan, let me take control from you."

He held out his hand without question. This girl who could kill him, this girl who brought him closer than anyone else… he needed her as much as she needed him. There was something about her that was there the first moment that he saw her, back in that bar. She wasn't afraid of him, she was curious; she saw something in him that she saw in herself. She didn't hate him for all the things he did—she trusted him, more than she trusted herself. But that didn't matter because he trusted her. And he would do everything in his power to keep her safe, even die; it was the least he could do, after all, she helped to remind him that he was actually alive.

"Focus on control; I'll try not to take anything else."

With shaking fingers she reached out and placed her palm against his; ignoring the feel of their fingerprints touching… she was falling into him, into his mind, easier with him than with the others, because he gave freely, and she didn't get the bad taste that came with taking. She inhaled deeply as thought after thought of regulation of breathing and dimming senses and closing off others came to her. On the cusp of these thoughts she felt the flood of memories trying to bare down upon her. He was holding them back from her. Before the flood reached her, she pulled away from him, both falling backwards to the floor.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, as she watched him shake his head.

No, he thought, my chest and head want to explode. "Yeah," he said instead, "you?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I just need a moment, to straighten everything out." She met his eyes again, "Thank you."

"Anytime Kid." He got up then and left her to sort out her head, and to pull his own together. He had to get away from her before she could sense the scent that he knew was on him, fear.

Memories of the first time she used her power on him came back, and he his stomach was again uneasy. He would be damned if he ever admitted it to anyone, but he was afraid of the death that she could bring him.

--

I'm looking forward to Storm and Gambit working together on a solo mission. They are both more than currently shown, and I hope this shows it even a little bit.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Happy summer!


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Not mine, but sometimes I like to dream.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, I spent more time than I thought without access to internet. Which makes me sad. But now I'm back and I have an extra long chapter. And I hope to have more coming soon.

Enjoy.

Chapter 24

Storm hadn't told Kitty or Remy any details, only to suit up and meet in the hanger bay in 20 minutes. Gambit, opting for his usual thieving wear instead of the X-Men issued uniform that he knew his female counterparts would be wearing, arrived first and was shuffling his deck of cards when Storm joined him.

He had been wrong. Storm too had opted for something other than her uniform. She was wearing what was more reminiscent of what he recalled Belladonna called 'working clothes'. Like on Bella, Gambit approved of how the leather pants and flexible leather biker jacket looked on Storm as well.

"No cape today Stormy?" He asked, mischief playing at his tone.

An eyebrow raised, "I do not call you Gamby, please show me the self same courtesy." She looked around, "Where is Shadowcat?"

"Here," the teenager called, running through the closed door, hastily fixing her hair. "Am I late?" She looked at both in turn, "Why am I the only one in uniform? Should I change?"

Ororo shook her head and led the way into the X-Jet, Kitty settling beside her in the co-pilot's seat. Not comfortable with being left behind, Remy stood between the two women.

"So Stormy, when are you going to tell us what we're doing here?"

"When you learn my name is Storm."

--

Breathing deeply Scott entered the Med-lab, surprised that Rogue and Logan wasn't there, but that thought faded away as he walked to where Henry stood, examining Emma.

"Strange to see you in here Dr. McCoy," he greeted, "The last time you acted as team doctor was back when Jean was still in Med. School." Pushing aside the fluttering in his stomach at the reminder of happier times, Scott focused on what was at hand, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Emma assured them both, "Henry just won't let me leave."

"You'll stay until I'm just as sure as you are about what happened." He looked again to Scott, "I've just run her through an EEG, and I have to check the results. Make sure she doesn't leave. Shoot her if need be."

"You're the doctor." Scott said with a smile. He watched as Hank left before looking to Emma who was watching him closely. "What?" He asked as he sat on a chair opposite her bed.

"What are you doing here?"

"Lorna said that you could barely stand, I thought I would check on you."

"And?"

"And what?"

"I'm a telepath Cyclops, even through these inhibitors I can still tell that you are holding something back."

"I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"Finding me." He looked down, "Not many people would take the time to search for someone they believe to be dead."

Emma didn't even blink, although she was uncomfortable with his sincerity, it took more than that for her to let her emotions show. "Is that all?"

He nodded, not surprised by her cool response. Some things, he reckoned, weren't liable to change. "I've been thinking a lot back to the days when we were students here. The original teams."

"It was a long time ago."

"A lot has changed."

"No it hasn't." She caught his eye, as much as she could through the visor, "You are still trying to hold everything together, trying to make the Professor proud of you; and I am still on the outside of the world in which the X-Men live, knowing that I will never truly fit into it. I'm not like the rest of you Scott; I know that what you dream can never really happen. I wasn't included in the Professor's vision."

He shook his head, "What happened with you and your sister…"

She cut him off. On the edge of his mind he could feel her powers flare, and was glad for the inhibitor. "Don't talk about her! I haven't heard any news of my sister in five years thanks to Xavier; we didn't have a childhood thanks to him. My life and hers was risked time and time again while you and his precious Jean stayed safe, out of harm's way, because you were meant for the higher calling, while Sage and I were nothing more than Pawns used to spy on the powers that could oppose him." Her lips were trembling when she finally took a deep breath. She hated the Professor for what he did to her and her sister, she hated him for helping to make her hard and cold and distant. She hated him for tearing her away from the dreams she could have believed in and making her become something she hated. And she hated him for believing that she could never be a hero.

"This is the first time I've ever seen you angry Emma." He said, placing a hand on her shaking shoulder, "I always admired your strength, and Sage's. I envied the way Xavier trained you both, and how good you both were. Jean did too." He lifted her chin so that she was once again looking at him, "Xavier trained us to follow him, but he trained you so that you could stop him should anything go wrong. He knew that you were strong enough to stop him, strong enough to make us stop him."

"You envied me while I envied Jean." She shook her head, turning away from him, again standing strong. "And even now, with all my training and all my skills and my looks, I still rate lower to everyone than a corpse that tried to kill you all." She looked over her shoulder at him, a blonde eyebrow rising slightly, "What kind of dream is that?"

"Seeing as you're still here, I'd say it's one in progress."

--

Storm powered down the X-Jet and led the way to the back, where she quickly called up building blue prints on the 3-D display. "This," she said, "Is the city's mutant containment center. It was built especially to hold Magneto, and since his escape, the mutants held here is minimal. Below," she continued as she pushed a button and the 3-D display shifted, "Three floors down is where they keep Intel on mutants. Here is our target."

"Sounds easy," Kitty said with a smile, "I'll just phase us in and out, 5 minutes flat."

"There are defenses against mutant powers in place, so this is going to be done the old fashioned way," she looked to Remy with a smile on her face. As much as she loved being a mutant, she was thrilled at the thought of going back to her roots again. By the look on Remy's face, she knew he felt the same.

Kitty, on the other hand, looked lost, "Then what am I doing here?"

"You are our Plan B. If something goes wrong, you'll have to pull us out of there pronto. Alright, let's go."

Gambit fell into step with Kitty as they descended the X-Jet's ramp, "And Remy thought it would be a dull night."

--

From the first moment that Gambit met them, he knew that most of the X-Men liked doing things one of two ways. Some liked to be straight forward and others liked to be sneaky. He could tell quickly that most, like Peter and Scott and Bobby, liked the straight forward way; while Storm and Kitty enjoyed being stealthy. He always fancied himself as more the second than the first but more often than not he was an 'All bets off' kind of guy. He also fancied that he was more original than not.

Then he met Wolverine and Emma, and he knew that he wasn't alone. For some that discovery would lead to disappointment and perhaps even to abandon being original for something more mainstream. But that wasn't Remy. No, always a Gambit, seeing others that liked to play things his ways only led him to want to be better, to be more of a gamble than anyone could ever expect. He loved facing the impossible odds and winning.

In a staring contest with death, he wouldn't just bet on himself, but he would also carry a can of pepper spray…

"Gambit," Storm called as they approached the dark brick wall of the abandoned-looking building, "get us in, quietly."

Pausing only to nod, he moved ahead of the pair, scouting, listening, feeling. He was in his element right then, and he knew that as empty as the building appeared, empty it was not. Oh well, he thought as he stooped to grab some pebbles, more fun for me. Aiming in a way that was now second nature to him, he threw one of the stones at the security camera facing the side entrance, knocking it so that it faced the opposite end of the alley.

--

Inside the officer in the main lobby noticed the movement of the camera and sighed. Since some of the local mutant population heard that this was where mutants were held the building had frequently come under attack by juveniles trying to make a stand. But since most of the mutants were moved the most they got was graffiti. Still, he thought, grabbing his walky-talky, you never know with those freaks.

"Hey Bill, your camera shifted. Can you make sure that those freaks aren't messing with anything again?"

"I'm on it," Bill replied, sounding a little more than annoyed.

It was a couple minutes before he heard again from Bill, but upon receiving the 'All's clear,' he never expected that it would be anything but.

--

The door to the alley opened, and the only thing heard was a gun's safety being taken off. Out stepped Bill, a middle-aged security guard who had once been a cop. But that was a life-time ago; he and the world had changed too much since then. But being a cop wasn't something that ends with the job title, and Bill had been a pretty good one. Something about that alley seemed off, it was an eerie calm that you see in movies just before something jumped out at you.

Gun at the ready he looked left and right, noticing nothing out of the ordinary, he looked towards the camera that was still facing away from the door. He could have gone, grabbed a ladder and fixed it, but that wasn't his job; and after finding out that the cleaners earned far more money than he did, he was a lot less courteous about picking up after himself. No, that camera could wait.

Sighing he picked up his walkie-talkie, "Everything checks out here. Looks like it was just some kids being smart again."

"Damn freaks," came the cracking response, "Alright, I'll make the report, come back inside."

As soon as he turned towards the door he realized what had felt so wrong. Looking up, he saw a pair of eyes, glowing red through the shadows, bearing down on him from atop the thin door frame. "Freaks mon ami? Dat ain't very nice."

Gambit dropped on the man, staff at the ready. One hit was all it took for the man to fall. With another to make sure that he stayed down, Remy held open the door, quickly looked around to make sure the coast was clear before giving the two mutants in waiting the signal that it was safe to approach. With a bow he signaled for Storm and Shadowcat to lead the way.

Storm smiled, "Not bad, not bad at all," she said as she led the way into the building.

"You ain't seen nothing yet Stormy."

--

The mansion was quiet, too quiet. Even though he left before the school became as full as it was these days, Eric couldn't remember a time when it sat so empty, or so solemn. It reflected those inside it, he mused as he wondered down one of the halls. He stopped in his travels and musings when he spotted Lorna standing in the darkened library, back to him, facing towards the lawn outside.

With a raised eyebrow he approached her.

An eyebrow of her own raised as he stepped towards her. She didn't look away from the window, but she knew he was near: she always knew when he was near. "Do you remember the day I was sent here?"

His back stiffened, "Yes."

"It was a week after I found out that I was a mutant, and the day I discovered that you were my father. I never knew. Just like I never knew I had siblings until Xavier found them." She brought her arms tighter around herself, "He was more of a father to me than you ever were."

"He was a better man."

"Still is." Swallowing back the rage from her youth that never really died, she turned her focus to the window. "Why are you here?"

"Because Charles is the better man. Why are you?"

"Because I was hoping that you were better. I think I'm wrong."

"You sound like your mother." He said, sitting on a nearby table, his arms crossing in front of him.

She turned then, facing him down, his strength adding to her own, "Did you even love her? At all? Did you ever love the mother of your other children? What about Pietro? Or Wanda? Or me? Did we ever actually exist to you?"

"I don't know what you expect from me Child."

Sighing she turned back towards the window, "Nothing. It's just; sometimes it's hard to know that Magneto, the most feared mutant among men, made me. Sometimes I forget everything you are, and I wonder, briefly, if there was something more to it. But there never is, is there? Not where you're concerned."

"There always is more than anyone can ever know. You want to know if I loved you, you want to know if I stayed away for your own good or for my own."

"Well?"

"When you were born I wondered what kind of world you were brought into. I thought about all the hatred you would face..."

The look on her face when she turned cut him off, "Don't try to tell me that you did everything you did because of me."

"Having you made me want to try. But I was never good, and I knew that we could never be at peace with base line humans. But there may be another way."

"What?"

"Being among them has made me realize that what I want can never be; neither can Charles' dream ever be reality. So, I have devised a third option. And I would like you to stand with me to do it, or to do it for me if I die."

"Me? Why?"

"Because we were always stronger when together."

They were silent for a moment before Lorna, noticing how much even their body language was alike, straightened, "Scott told me about when you took Rogue, you gave her your power, sacrificed her instead of yourself."

"Yes. And?"

"Why didn't you use me instead?" She shrugged, "Would have been easier wouldn't it?"

"In the short term, yes. But in the long term, her death seemed easier to live with." He met her eye, a half smile showing through his mask, "You can infer from that whatever you need to make it easier to sleep at night."

He turned to leave, her next words causing him to pause in his retreat, "Why do you push me away?"

"So that you can be stronger on your own." He told her before walking away. Yes, he thought, pushing away all the memories and regrets that had long plagued him where his children were concerned, So we can both be stronger alone.

--

They proceeded along the corridors in leap frog fashion, Kitty always in the center, between the two thieves, in awe of their skills, and how much they were enjoying the mission. It seemed like they were taking everything as though it was a game, one where the stakes weren't 

nearly as high as Kitty knew they were. She was starting to feel like dead weight, useless, as though she had to be taken care of. But her moment came when those with her remembered just how high the stakes really were.

Gambit was in the lead, walking down the last stretch of hall before their destination. As he passed a door that he hadn't bothered to check, it opened and a gun, followed by a hand emerged. Kitty acted before anything else came out. Rushing forward she kicked the door, slamming the hand against the frame, the gun dropping to the ground with a curse.

"Thanks mon petite," Remy said when he reacted, a split second after Shadowcat, bestowing upon her a smile that made her heart jump, and just for a moment she wished her heart was free to want Gambit. She smiled at him as Ororo joined them, and they watched together as he took care of the last of the guards. "Gambit owes you his life Petite," he said once he once again joined them, "And he pays his debts." He looked towards Storm, "The path seems clear, Gambit isn't sensing anyone else."

She nodded, taking the lead, "Then come on."

It took her less than a minute to pick the twin locks, smiling lightly she pushed it open. "I only wish that I could use my powers to check for defenses."

Gambit stepped beside her, "I'll go," he told her, tapping his temple, "These eyes can see as good as day."

A moment after he left them, the lights came on, and they saw Remy standing by a panel, "We should be safe now." He told them, turning to the computer consuls. "You good at computers Stormy?"

She shook her head, "I fear not good enough. Shadowcat?"

Beside her, Kitty smiled, "One computer wiz coming up." In her element Kitty sat in the plush chair before the consul and with dancing fingers cracked her way into the system. "I'm in," she told them, and as she scanned the list she found something that made her throat dry and her stomach turn, "Storm, there's a lot more than just Mutant files here."

"Copy everything you can," Storm told her taking a step forward. Looking over the young girl's shoulder she quickly saw what Kitty had been alarmed about. "By the goddess! These are plans for cerebro, the mansion, Danger room... the Sentinel machines!"

"The what?"

Kitty looked at Remy, "They're a training simulation that are programmed to combat our powers." Her eyes flicked to Storms, "If someone were to mass produce them... it could mean mass murder to mutant-kind."

Storm's jaw clenched, "After you copy it, destroy it, all of it."

Kitty shook her head, "Even if I erased the system, there could be hidden files, and it could be recovered."

"Anyway to get it all?"

"I could phase through it... but considering what you said, I don't think that would be wise."

Gambit's head snapped towards the door, his hand instinctively going to his staff, "We're going to have company very soon."

"Gambit, watch the door, Kitty, destroy it," her eyes started to turn white; "I will deal with whatever else happens..."

--

I hope it was worth the wait. As always thanks for all reviews and I hope to read more in the chapters ahead.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Not mine, still! Although I have learned that crying will not get me any closer to it. Next attempt, prayer.

Author's note: It shocked me today when I looked at the word document to this fan fiction and found it to be 100 pages long... We're at roughly page 86 of what I have written. Let's just say, this is going to be a long one. I'm hoping that this chapter is at LEAST the half way point. Really, really, hoping. I want to finish this so I can work on the sequal... and maybe even a pre-qual. We'll see.

Chapter 25

Kurt was amazed; the onetime attic of the mansion had been transformed into a jungle paradise. It was warm and moist, holding plants that he had never dreamed of before. His reason for being there was momentarily forgotten as he walked along, looking at the plants, inhaling the mixing fragrances and feeling a peace in the small sanctuary that he only ever had in church.

"Ororo made it," a quiet voice said from behind him, "When she first arrived. It helped her not to be so homesick for her native African skies."

Kurt turned in the dim light to where Moira stood, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, looking at him. "It is beautiful."

"It's closed off from the students, in case the plants get destroyed. But I've always found comfort here. It's a world within itself."

He stepped closer to her, "And you need comfort Fräulein?"

She sighed as she moved to a bench situated directly under a skylight. Above her the moon, strong and silent, watched from its place in the cloudless sky. "Don't we all?"

He teleported beside her, smiling apologetically when she jumped. "Sorry. Is there anything that I can help you with? I know something about seeking comfort, and forgiveness."

She studied him a moment, "Ororo told me about you, about your faith and how strong it is."

"Do you not have faith?"

"I did, when I was younger. And then I did again when I had David. But more than I had faith in a God, did I have faith in myself."

"And now that is gone?"

She looked down, "I'm a doctor Mr. Wagner. I dedicated my life to helping mutants, and here I am now, risking the life of a mutant, one who has willingly put her life into my hands, for my own reasons."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Rogue has survived thus far, and I have faith that she will survive further still. If she did not feel the same about the necessity of what was asked of her, then I feel that she would not do it. Take heart in that Doctor. It is her own will that makes her follow this path, just as your will is guiding you both. You are stronger and wiser than you feel yourself to be at this moment."

"I'm changing the very DNA of mutants; I've made two very near fatal mistakes so far. What if I make another?"

"Then you will only continue to prove that you are human. That is what makes you who you are, and who we need you to be."

Inhaling deeply she reached out a quivering hand, and grasped his, "Is that enough?"

He smiled, squeezing her hand in his own, "It has to be, or else, there would be no point, no plan."

"And there is?"

"Always."

"Good."

--

Gambit looked from Storm to the door when he felt anger from outside the door, coming 

closer, fast. He looked to Kitty, "You better do it quickly Petite, we won't be alone for long."

Nodding, now hearing the nearing footsteps, Kitty stood, and leapt into the consul.

Sparks met the guards as they entered the room at the same time as the automated gas and defenses came to life.

Storm and Gambit quickly followed suit. In the same moment that Gambit released his first round of charged cards, lightning hit the first of the wall mounted guns and a wind took care of the worse of the deadly gas.

For her part, Kitty swam through the consul, deep into the circuits, trying to ignore the sparking around her, reminding herself that as long as she stayed intangible, there really was nothing to fear from the flying voltage. Now, there was only the problem of breathing.

She would have gasped, had she the ability to hold the air, when she noticed something, far too late, as she swam through it… the automatic controls for the defenses.

"Oh no…"

--

Storm look to the door where yet more guards were coming in. Gambit had abandoned his powers in favour of a hand-to-hand battle. Despite the odds, he seemed to be holding his own, at least for the moment. Satisfied she once again turned her attention to the defenses that followed her everywhere she tried to fly. Probably set to track mutant DNA she mused after noticing that none of the guards seemed to fear the shifting armory in the walls. While trying to keep up the wind to clear the almond tasting air, she struck out in all directions, lightning hitting the walls, getting lucky as three wall mounts exploded, the guns smoldering.

She didn't have time to relax, however, when she saw Kitty exit the consul, panting. "Storm," she yelled, "I accidently phased through the defense controls, they're not going to stop, not until we do."

Nodding she landed, and instantly, her winds shifted. "Gambit," she yelled, "Hold onto something."

Waiting just a second for him to comply, she sent the full force of her wind towards the guards, sending the unlucky souls into the hall. Then, before the remaining guns could re-aim and the guards could regroup, Kitty grabbed onto both of them and phased them through the floor.

--

Bobby was surprised to find Scott in the med lab, surprised more by the sight of him laughing with Emma and Hank; talking about old times. He looked embarrassed when they saw him.

"Bobby," Scott greeted, "What is it?"

He swallowed hard, remembering what had brought him searching for their leader in the first place, "You better come and see this." He then turned and led the way along the cold hallways, his pace rushed, leading those behind him to fear the worse. "They've been like this for almost an hour." He explained leading them into the Danger room's control center, where Moira, Peter, Kurt and Warren were all standing, watching through the window.

Warren was the first to turn to the newcomers. When he did, he looked almost white, "It's disgusting."

"The rate of healing is astonishing," Moira commented as Scott stepped beside her.

Looking down Scott's jaw dropped at the scene before him, and from his side Hank too saw what had absorbed the attentions of the group so entirely, "Oh my Stars and garters."

Three stories below, on the cold metallic floor of the danger room, no simulation was playing. Rather there were only two individuals, surrounded by music and blood and pieces of flesh, having the time of their lives, tearing, with matching sets of claws, each others to pieces.

"She's absorbed him too many times," Scott mumbled, unable, like the rest of them, to look away.

--

"Our audience is growing," Logan called as he dodged Rogue's attack.

He had to admit, that despite the training that came naturally to him, Rogue was doing pretty good. In fact, he hadn't had that kind of fun since Sabertooth or Deathstrike. There was something about sharing the strengths of your opposition that really pushed your limits, and kept you on your toes. And it looked as though, once she had gotten used to the sting of injury and healing factor, Rogue was having just as much fun too.

"Then we better give them a good show," she called as she charged. Her invulnerability and strength seemed to make up at least a little bit for her lack of fighting experience, and she thought that she was getting more agile than she ever was before. Maybe, she thought as she brought invulnerable bone claws up in defense against unbreakable metal ones, I picked something useful up from Remy. If only she had mastered flying, then she felt that she could really give Logan a run for his money.

She almost laughed as she got her claws past his defenses and into his right shoulder up to her fist. "I've wanted to pay you back for that so badly," she said, using her leg against his as leverage to pull her blood covered claws free.

He dropped to his knees for a minute, overcome by the pain. She had clipped an artery. That would take a moment to heal. Jesus, he thought as dizziness surrounded him despite the feel of his healing factor kicking in, this sucks...

--

Gambit quivered as they became tangible once again on the other side of the building. He inhaled deeply looking around the dark alley way.

Kitty, breathing hard beside him, smiled at his obvious discomfort, "You okay?"

"Oui Petite, mais Gambit never want to do that again."

Storm looked over her shoulder, "Did the data survive the phasing?"

Kitty nodded, "I sent it straight to the X-Jet memory banks, destroyed the transporter with the phase."

"Good job, let's get out of here." They followed her lead and rushed towards the waiting jet. It was only once it was again in the air did any of them sigh in relief. Storm then looked at Kitty, "Go and check what we got."

"Right," the teenager said, vacating the co-pilot's seat, smiling to Remy as he moved to take her place.

Storm smiled as he started to shuffle a deck of cards, "You handled yourself better than I would have expected."

He shared her smile, "You too Stormy, pretty good for an X-Man."

"You know, I don't know what Scott has said to you, and I don't know why you're fighting with us, but there is a place for you with us, after this is over. You could have a home here."

He shook his head, focusing on his cards, "Some people ain't meant to play well with others."

She laughed, "I heard something similar from Wolverine, and look at him now."

"From the word on campus, he kept coming back because of Jean. What's keeping him here now Stormy?"

She shot him a look, not liking the implications held within his tone, "I've also heard word on campus Gambit, and I thought you had found a similar reason to stay on here."

"Rogue?"

"Rogue."

Sighing he looked out the window. A long moment passed before he again spoke. "Have you ever found yourself one day looking at where you were the day before and find yourself living a completely different life?"

"The day I left Africa to join the X-Men. The first day I took a life, the first day I realized that I was in love, the day after my parents died. Life is full of those moments Gambit, they're called turning points; and they're what make life worth living."

"All the files are here and they're being organized as we speak." Kitty called from where she sat behind them, "There is more here than we ever dreamed, but there have been no signs so far that the database had doubles. I think we did good."

"I'm glad." Storm simply told them, "We're coming to the mansion, Kitty, radio in; get them to prep for landing."

The youth nodded and after a moment she turned her head towards the cockpit, "The hanger is prepped; but I had to do it manually. No one is answering my pages."

"Let's hope that there is no trouble; and if there is," Storm said, hoping that Onslaught had not come after them, "Let us hope that we are not too late."

--

Next up: a medical emergency, 2 face-offs and realization of just what they're up against.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: Most of what's going on with the information from the detention center is more to set up the sequel that I've even started to write. Damn you fan fiction addiction. The tentative title will be X-Men: Darkness Rising. We'll see if time and inspiration get me that far. I hope it will.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 26

Hank ran towards the med lab, heart in his throat, his knuckles brushing against the cool floor that vibrated lightly from Peter who was following close behind, holding in his arms a convulsing, blood covered Rogue.

"Set her down," Hank called as he and Moira quickly moved to gather together gauze and other equipment to stop the bleeding. Behind him Bobby, Scott and Logan joined Peter. "Give us some space."

"Is she going to be alright?" Bobby asked, nervously wetting his lips, "I mean, she's healing right?"

Moira's eyes bore into Wolverine's, "She was stabbed through the heart Bobby, even with healing factor, that will take some time to get over."

Bobby turned to Logan. Ice covered his fist, making it grow denser. Clenching his jaw he moved and punched Logan, causing the older man (who too was recovering from numerous scratches and stabbings), to fall to the floor. He could have stopped the youth, they both knew, but he didn't. Bobby wasn't sure if it was because he knew he deserved it, or if he too was wondering how good his healing factor was in the girl who was under the steady care of the two best doctors he knew. But that didn't change the fact that Logan, the man that Rogue had trusted more than anyone, could have killed her—again. "Bastard!"

Peter and Scott were between the men even before Logan could regain his footing. But even then Bobby fought against the hold that Scott had on him, "Why'd you stab her through the heart!"

Logan didn't push against Peter; instead he held his jaw as he reached for a cigar, "Testing her healing factor; and her. She's going to face worse things than me in life. She was getting too cocky."

At that Scott frowned, "Logan."

"What? Tell you one thing though, the kid's good. She might even make it out of this alive."

Anything that Scott could have said then was cut off when Storm hurried in, Kitty close behind her, "What happened?"

"He stabbed her," Bobby spat, the ice armor slowly crawling up his arm as he stared down Logan.

"Who?"

"Rogue." Peter told them when Bobby was too angry to respond, "Training accident."

"Will she be okay?"

It was Hank's turn to nod as he joined them, "Her healing factor has already begun to heal the wound, but it will take time; we stitched her where we could and she's receiving a blood transfusion just to be on the safe side."

Scott's eyes met Storm's, "Blood? Hank…"

"Her own. She can't take on any mutant's blood without taking on their power's. We've started to keep a store of her blood on site, just to be sure. Don't worry; she should be right as rain by the morning." He ushered them to the door, "But she needs her rest."

Once they were in the hall Scott looked to Ororo, "How did your mission go?"

"It was a success, but we found some disturbing things."

"Up for a briefing?"

Ororo nodded, "Let me change first. Kitty, will you go and transfer the files to Cerebro's database?"

Kitty nodded, "Sure thing."

"Care for company?" Peter asked, falling in step with her.

"You think that you should leave Logan and Bobby alone?"

He shrugged, "Logan won't hurt him." He smiled at her, glad that she laughed. "Sometimes it's surprising how much he still cares about her; all things considered."

She stopped, "What things?" The look on his face, the un-judging honesty that shone in his eyes caused her to look away, ashamed. "You know about that?"

He shifted, "Yes."

She stopped in her tracks, looking into space until he had turned to face her, "Listen Peter, that kiss, it was a mistake. I..."

He smiled at her, "You don't need to explain Kitty."

"I feel like I do."

He took a step towards her, his heart skipping a beat, as it always seemed to do when he got near the small girl who had more life than most people he knew. "Why?"

A blush covered her cheeks, and she looked down, "I don't know, because what happened shouldn't have. Because I didn't want to hurt anyone… Listen, I should get going, Storm is waiting on me," she hurriedly said as she walked through him, towards the hanger, "I'll talk to you later Peter."

"She thinks you like Rogue," a voice said from behind him after she faded from his view. Turning he saw Gambit, leaning against the cool steal wall, a cigarette shifting between his thumb and forefinger. "Remy thinks she might have a point."

A dark eyebrow rose, and Peter took a step forward, "Is that so?"

"Oui. Now Remy likes the Petite chat, and he owes her his life. So here's a friendly warning homme, you hurt her and Gambit hurts you."

"Well, 'friend', I have no more plans to hurt her than I would hope you would have to hurt Rogue." With a dark smile the brilliant blues of his eyes faded to steal gray as he allowed his armor to fall into place. "I would have to see what happens to your limbs against my strength…" he paused, mid-step, confusion falling over his metallic face before he found himself thrust away from Gambit.

The Cajun looked behind him to where Magneto stood, hand raised, a frown on his face. "Leave it to Charles to fill his house with metal mutants." He looked at the trench-coat clad mutant, "Come on."

--

Emma, Moira, Hank, Lorna and Scott all sat in chilled silence at the list of files that they retrieved from the detention facility.

Moira was the first to respond, "Mutants are worse off than first thought. How many people knew about this?"

Ororo shrugged, "I don't know. Kitty didn't have time to trace it. We don't know how many copies are out there, or who has them, or what was done with them before we got to them."

"What does the government know about this?"

Hank shrugged, "What the government knows and what they're telling me are two completely different matters. There were suspicions that the mutant registration act was just a cover for something else, but as to what it was, that's classified to everyone but the president."

Scott looked at him, "Can you find out anything?"

"I can try."

Nodding, Scott turned his attention to Lorna, "Magneto told us about the detention facility. Any idea if he knew what he was getting us into?"

"Sorry Scott, but Eric and I haven't really been bonding since we came here."

"I'm sorry Lorna." He said with an apologetic smile to his sister-in-law; knowing that the relationship between father and daughter was strained at best.

From where she sat, Emma looked up, a frown cemented on her smooth, beautiful face. "It seems to fall to me to ask what no one else wants to ask. Could Onslaught know about these plans and what they could mean for mutants?"

Silence filled the room as eyes met and throats dried. What if Onslaught knew about plans for restraining mutants? For capturing them? For neutralizing their powers?

"We have to find him and stop him," Ororo said, her throat tight, "before he hurts anyone else, and before he makes our cause that much worse."

Inhaling deeply Scott stood, "There isn't much we can do right now," he said with a frown, "And we'll all be useless if we don't get some rest. We'll start bright and early in the morning—now that we have some idea of where to start."

--

Gambit was silent as he followed the older man out of the mansion. He had never felt like more of a lackey as he did in that moment that Magneto turned to him, eager for a report.

A magnetic shield fell over them, in order to keep their conversation private to the sensors Eric knew would be around. "Did you get it?" He asked.

Head down Gambit retrieved a flash drive from his pocket. "I copied everything we got from the center while the jet was empty."

The drive floated into Eric's hand, "Good. Do they know?"

The thief shook his head, "Non. They think Gambit is one of them." He couldn't meet Magneto's eye. His stomach twisted under the older man's gaze. Tried as he might, he felt guilty. They had opened their doors to him, offered him a home, a cause to fight for, and a place to belong, without burning himself alive in guilt. A part of him that wanted to be like his brother, a piece of him seeking redemption, screamed at him to do it, to join them, to actually belong, to actually fight for something more than himself. Even the part of him that he knew was more like Logan than Scott was tempted.

But he couldn't, not knowing what he had done, not knowing how much blood would never wash off his hands—no matter how many angels he walked along the side of.

--

Rogue woke with a groan; her entire body ached. Memories flooded back as she swallowed, trying to bring moisture to her dry, blood tainted throat. That's right, she thought, her fingers gingerly seeking out the set of three puncture wounds that were still knitting themselves back together; Wolvie stabbed me—and laughed.

That part of her that held him knew that he didn't mean it, that he had just gotten carried away. The animal within him had taken over. As it did her, she admitted as she struggled to sit, the sterile smells of her surroundings overwhelming her senses. She would have to talk to him, she reasoned, as she pulled the sensors and IV's from her body, feeling more like herself than she had since before she fell into the entire Onslaught mess. But that could wait; there was something else that was pressing on her mind.

Him.

Ever since she absorbed him, Gambit seemed to be able to edge his empathic powers to the forefront of her mind, was able to push upon her what he was feeling… of course he was good at hiding it, and she was getting good at pushing it aside. But in moments when she was caught off guard, and when he was not in the control as he had always prided himself on, she could feel him. And right then, he was all she could feel.

She grinned lightly as she made her way out of the med lab, feeling stronger with each step she took. He felt a certain safety in knowing that telepaths couldn't read his mind. And here she was and to her, his mind was open. Well at least open more than he would have liked. She was glad; because since she discovered how much he threw her off, how much he made her hope and wish… it was nice to know that they now found themselves on equal ground. They both were under each other's skin.

--

He sat on the roof, for the moment still. He was waiting; knowing it was only a matter of time until she showed up. She had done it before, when he was unconscious. He wondered what had happened when he touched her that allowed her to get inside him in a way that no one had before, not even Belladonna.

He sighed, looking at his hands, rough fingers poking through the cut off ends of the worn gloves. He studied them. He needed to directly touch something to charge it, so wearing gloves at all was a safety hazard, but that didn't stop him from wearing them. It was in his blood. No, he corrected himself solemnly, it was in his upbringing. He wasn't born a thief. Looking at his brothers he would say that he was born a hero.

He wanted to laugh. But it stopped in his throat when he saw her, rising to where he sat. Hair dancing in the breeze, hands on hips, there she was, looking at him from where she floated, just out of reach.

"What are you doing here Cajun?" She asked; worry mixed disappointment filling her accented voice.

He tried to smile at her, "Shouldn't you be recovering like a good little stabbed girl?"

A dark eyebrow rose. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, "Nothing Chere."

"I can feel that you're lying Gambit."

His eyes met hers, "And what are you doing poking around in Gambit's head for?"

She floated closer to him, "I don't want to fight with you Gambit. Something's wrong; I 

just came to see if there was anything I could do to help."

"You think Gambit is worth saving?"

"The only one who doesn't think that is you. What are you hiding?"

"Can't you pick that up from my memories? Or do you need another kiss?"

She studied him a moment, allowing her instincts free rein in accessing the situation, knowing from the shadow in her mind, the one that remained still and quiet, that something wasn't right. "What do you want me to figure you? Besides that you stink of Magneto?"

He paused a moment, having forgotten her blood-hound nose. "Maybe you should go Chere."

"Gambit…Remy…" she stopped short, feeling in the back of her mind a prickling sensation that she only ever got when she knew things were going to go very wrong. She had gotten it before she kissed David, but she had ignored it then. She learned a lot since then. She floated away from him, "Never mind. The moment you stop pitying yourself for things you can't change, well the world will be here."

He watched her descend to the ground with a sad smile, "Pity isn't for the past chere," he whispered, "But also for the now. Je suis désolé chere."

--

As for what's next, they find out just what they're up against. Maybe more, probably more… we shall see.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: As always not mine

Author's Note: I just watched the first 2 episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men, the new cartoon version of the X-Men and all a can say is… WOW!! If you haven't seen it find it. They are on YouTube and are so very very good. So looking forward to seeing Emma in it as a good guy.

Chapter 27

The night's events weighed heavily on the minds of the mansion's residents, so much so that no one seemed to protest when they were awoken early the next day for a briefing.

Appearing as composed as usual Emma stood before the assembly, preparing the files retrieved the night before for viewing. When they were ready she nodded to Magneto.

The first image to flash against the three dimensional screen was that of a man, looking much like a younger version of Eric himself, "Pietro Maximoff; class 3 mutant with the ability to move at supersonic speeds. He can cross the country in under 5 minutes. He has a strong survival sense that is only rivaled by his sense of obligation to his sister."

SHINCK

The image shifted, to that of a woman with auburn hair and a thin body reminiscent of Lorna's. "Wanda Maximoff, probably the biggest threat besides Charles himself. Capable of shifting odds, she can turn the impossible possible within her 'hex bolts'. She was last measured at upper class 4, matching mine and Lorna's power level. We need to use caution when dealing with her abilities. Even without Pietro protecting her, she is a force to be reckoned with. And he would die to save her."

SHINCK

Again the image shifted to the Juggernaut, "You are all familiar with this fellow. Physically resistant, Juggernaut only measures as class 3. He's weak to mental attacks. Get rid of his helmet and he's no threat at all."

SHINCK

The image once again shifted to Pyro, "John measures at lower class 4. His personality is his greatest threat and his greatest weakness." He looked to Bobby, "For some reason, he hates you. His feelings of superiority will be his undoing."

"Then why did you let him follow you around?" Bobby asked him with a hard expression.

Inhaling deeply he met the young mutant's eyes, "Because he had power and was willing to do what I said. And he is easily defeated, despite your lack of success."

Not waiting for another disruption he turned his eyes to the next mutant, one whom was tall and stocky. His dark skin and hair offset by his green eyes. "Ah Avalanche. If only I had found you in time. Upper class 3; he does as his name assumes. He creates earthquakes and has secondary powers including control over the very ground itself; creating mountains, craters… so much possibility."

SHINCK

"You aren't shopping here," Scott reminded him as his gaze shifted towards the end of the table.

"Just appreciating talent Cyclops, much as Xavier did." He watched the screen shift once more to where a man, round and tall stood, "Blob." He said with an amusing grin, "He is said to be as unmovable as the Juggernaut is unstoppable. He has the ability to absorb energy as though 

it wasn't really there. He is the least powerful of the group at lower class 3. But don't let that lack off offensive mislead you. He is still a worthy challenge."

SHINCK

All eyes followed Eric's to the opposite end of the table, where Rogue sat, casually extending and retracting her claws.

SHINCK

She looked at them with an embarrassed shrug. "Sorry. Once you get past the pain its kinda fun."

With a disappointed sigh Scott stood up, taking over the briefing. "Emma believes that we are getting close to pinpointing Onslaught's location. He's getting sloppy, maybe he wants to be found. We must assume we only have a little time until then. Emma is going to work with Rogue, preparing her for the rest of the transfer. Meanwhile," he broke into a smile, "The rest of us are going to train. Magneto, Beast, Storm, Kurt, Wolverine and I against Lorna, Angel, Bobby, Kitty, Peter and Gambit. Ten minutes people; suit up. Let's see what you got."

--

Ororo smiled as she left the briefing room with Logan. "I haven't seen him like this since before he met you," she confessed, "It's as though he's truly alive again."

"Bully for him."

She stopped him, pulling him to face her, a concerned look on her face, "What's wrong?" Her eyes closed with a nod, figuring that it was the same thing that seemed to be wrong with most men these days, "Rogue."

"Storm," he said with a sigh, not liking the implications her voice held, "She's my responsibility."

"No she isn't. She's her own. Just because she has your claws doesn't mean that you are responsible. You've never been this agitated before. So what is it, really?" It was then, as she replayed her statement over in her mind that she understood the root of his silent reply, "Her claws."

He turned away from her. "They're bone Storm! That means that…"

"That yours were too."

"I was always an animal; Stryker only gave me a bigger bite."

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You aren't an animal Logan, no matter how much you want to believe that you are. It's about time you start thinking of yourself as a man. You may not be the best man, but you are a man."

"Next to a goddess that doesn't sound like much."

She shrugged, "It's a start. Come on."

--

Cyclops' team stood in the center of a clearing, blue ribbons tied to their arms. The rest of the mutants, wearing gold ribbons, had gone off into the surrounding woods.

Cyclops smiled, "The point of this game is to see which sides has the most ribbons from their opponents. Alright Logan, where are they hiding?"

Sniffing he pointed, "Lorna's that way."

"Eric, care to test your daugther?"

Without a word the older man took to the sky.

Wolverine pointed again. "Angel."

"Beast!"

"Snowball."

"Storm, show him what you can do."

"Kitty."

"Nightcrawler, if you please."

Wolverine stopped then with a grin. "Do you want Gumbo or Colossus?"

"I'll take Gambit." Cyclops said with a smile. When he first joined the X-Men he prided himself on how well he went through his Danger Room paces, how he mastered anything that was placed in front of him. As a teacher, that pride got away from him, but now, in that moment, he was back where he belonged, leading, and fighting and hopefully winning.

He watched as Logan took off, claws at the ready, and before he could gain his bearings, there was a shadow falling over him.

Reacting fast, he spun on his heal, hand automatically going to his visor. He paused, not wanting to blast whoever had gotten the drop on him. That pause cost him, for a foot caught him in the chest, knocking him off balance and before he could recover or hit the ground, a hand had taken the visor off his face.

Cyclops caught himself before he hit the ground; eyes clamped tightly together, his breathing growing harsh. Behind him he could hear someone chuckling. "Gambit!"

"Gambit figure power for power we pretty evenly matched, mais," his grin widened as he thrust his spare staff into Cyclops' hands, "Let's see how you do with the odds on my side."

--

Angel was having fun flying low through the tree line, dodging his random team members whom came in his path. He had seen Storm take off after Bobby and Kurt 'bamf' after Kitty so he felt confident that there wasn't anyone who could really touch him.

He wished, the moment that a great weight fell upon him, that he had remembered Beast.

Hank smiled as he heard the wind knock out of Warren's lungs, and hoping that his strength could match that of the Angel's wings, he held the feathered appendages together under his shoulders and watched as the ground came near.

Struggling to regain his breath, Angel knew he only had one chance, and he took it. Throwing his body to the right, he managed to turn so that the heavier weight, Beast's, was under him. And just in time, for neither man was able to do anything more before they landed.

Taking advantage of the larger man's lessened grip after the impact Angel stumbled away, pausing only a moment to fully regain his breath.

"I failed to see that coming," Hank mumbled through harsh intakes of breath. "How about we call this a draw?"

Angel shook his head, "No chance, I'm still standing."

Watching the younger man take flight Hank sighed, "That is what I thought. I am getting far too old for this."

--

Storm smiled despite her predicament when her fabric wings, billowing full of self-

created air, keeping her aloft, froze solid and she found herself starting to fall. Iceman was good. But she knew she would always be better.

A large breath of wind slowed her descent to the tree line below. When she landed she caused the wind to surround her, like a cocoon, hopefully one strong enough to keep at bay the cold temperatures that Bobby Drake could conjure. However she remembered far too late that he had seen her use that trick before and before she could dispel the wind, the cocoon hardened, becoming ice, surrounding her, locking her inside the cramped space.

Closing her in.

Surrounding her.

Killing her…

Outside the ice bulb Iceman had a smile on his lips, as he came closer, inspecting his work carefully. He was about to remove his ice armor when he heard it, within the cocoon. It was the sound of a tempest building.

Lighting filled the Danger room, as a gale force wind kicked up, knocking Bobby off his feet and into a nearby tree. A strike of renegade lighting hit one of the holo-inducers, causing the scenery to fade and the cold interior of the Danger Room to once again become visible. As he began to slide across the room, away from the ice orb, he looked to the crimson ray of Scott's visor-less eyes hitting the ceiling as he too hit the ground. Around him he could see the rest of the mutants, all struggling against the force of Storm's fury, almost all losing.

Logan slammed into the wall beside him, "What did you do?" He growled. "Take it down."

"I can't. Not from this far away!"

Muttering a curse that was lost in the wind he looked to Lorna who, with Magneto, were the only ones left standing on their own accord; a magnetic force field their protection from the storm. "Hey! Get me over there!"

Nodding, Lorna held out her hand and at once Logan could feel his skeleton begin to itch and when his claws popped without him telling them too, he knew that Lorna was in control of his body.

Better than her father, he thought as he was forced through the tempest, noting with a frown that it was beginning to hail. He was going to have to talk to Storm, he reckoned when a bolt of lightning almost hit him—and Peter, he noted with a frown. The metal giant, whom had anchored himself, Kurt and Kitty to a wall, was a standing target for the unfocused bolts. But even with nearly being hit, Colossus would not let his armor fade.

"Damn hero," he muttered as his claws rose above his head, mere inches away from the orb and struck, slicing the ice through.

The storm died as quickly as it was born as Storm fell free of her prison into Logan's waiting arms. Still tingling from Lorna's powers, but happy that he was again under his own control; he guided them to the floor, checking her vitals as he did so.

She was shaking and her breathing was harsh, but she was alright. "Logan…"

He held her closer, in part to calm her trembling form, in part to insure that she could not conjure another storm. "You don't like tight spaces huh?"

With a weak smile she shook her head, "Was anyone hurt?"

"No," Cyclops told her as he joined them, fixing his visor into place with a frown, "Storm…"

"I am alright Scott."

Bobby looked at Storm, his eyes filled with regret, "I'm sorry Storm, had I have known I 

wouldn't have done it."

Storm shook his apology away, accepting Logan's help in standing, "You have nothing to be sorry for Bobby. I have put off the severity of my fear for far too long. And now it has become a liability. One that I am sure that our enemies would have no problem in taking advantage of."

The room fell silent as an alarm overtook the assembly.

Scott's eyes sought out Storm's, "Cerebro."

--

Rogue sat on the lawn, watching as Emma, sitting in a meditative stance closed her eyes. "Do as I do," she commanded without opening her eyes.

"You look silly."

"Rogue! Silly or no, I am here to give you some resemblance of how to deal with what you are going to receive in this transfer. I suggest that you do as I say." She waited until Rogue's very posture copied her own before she once again closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

"You have seen life as a human and also as a mutant, you have wielded a vast diversity of powers as though they were your own. You have seen how the body shifts and changes to make allowances for the powers that run through it. Whether power-based or physical, it is still the same. No matter how awesome the power, it is stilled held in check by the physical form. Control is obtained within these confines.

"Psychic powers are different. We aren't bound by physical rule, for while our bodies are frail and mortal; our minds transcend, reaches out, and expands. Control is difficult, and our powers are limited only by limits of our beliefs and imagination—by the strength of our will. Whether tired or exhausted our powers are still active, they still exist. Even Cyclops' optic blasts will weaken after constant use. Being a psychic is about finding the balance. It's being able to believe that we are in control—having the will to believe it is what makes the difference between those who rule their powers and those who let their powers rule them."

"Are you saying then that Jean had no will?" Rogue asked, an eyebrow rose critically.

Emma opened her eyes and looked at the young woman across from her, "Jean was a class 5 psychic, you have no idea what that means."

"I will."

She nodded, "I know that. And that is why I am here. I am amazed that you have lasted as long and as well as you have; which gives me hope that you will be able to deal with the powers that drove Jean mad. But I am not stupid enough to think that you have done this all on your own."

"What do you mean?"

"I know for a fact that those voices in your head are what have kept you alive up until now."

She blinked, surprised. "What do you know about that?"

"How do you feel?"

"Stronger; it's as though my fear is gone."

"In a way I suppose it is. Those shadows as you call them are helping you right now, they are preparing you for what is to come; and I don't know why."

Rogue looked down, "It's because they're scared. They see the thought of the Phoenix 

that still lay behind the Jean in my mind's eyes. It's only gotten stronger since agreeing to take on her power. They don't like me being in charge, but they know that at least with me they're still alive."

Emma studied her. She didn't know much about Rogue and the psychic portion of her abilities, but she knew that something wasn't adding up. "Rogue; what aren't you telling me? What are they afraid of exactly?"

Rogue looked up, "The same thing everyone out here is afraid of, the Phoenix. They are afraid that I will let her free, that I will become her, and that everything I was will die in the face of her. Including them."

Anything that Emma could think to say next was interrupted by an alarm that shook through the grounds.

"What is that?" Rogue asked her, fearing the worse.

Emma, quickly putting in place her cool exterior, stood, "Cerebro. Come on."

--

Emma pushed her way through the crowd to where Scott, Eric and Logan stood, waiting for her. Her eyes met Scott's through his visor, "Onslaught?" He asked as she opened Cerebro's door.

She nodded as they stepped through, "Yes. This is the third time it's picked him up since yesterday. He's getting close."

"Track him," he told her, stepping back through the door with a frown. As he watched the door close, he hoped that when it opened again they would know for certain what they were up against, and where.

--

So this was a long one, but also a fun one. Next up will be the final part of the power transfer, and Magneto's Danger Room lesson. I think we're getting close. Muh hahaha.

Please R&R and tell me how I'm doing.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Not mine, just letting them out to play

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, real life sucks. For the person who wondered where on youtube the Wolverine and the X-Men videos were, when I last checked, they had sadly been taken off. Tragic indeed.

I'll try to get updates done as often as possible but I don't know how often that will be because, as previously stated—real life sucks.

Anyway, that's all from me. Enjoy.

Chapter 28

The crowd gathered outside Cerebro waiting in silence for news when Moira finally joined them, "What happened?"

Scott inhaled, "Cerebro spotted Onslaught again. Emma is trying to track him now."

"He's playing with us," Magneto said mixed within a sigh, "Showing us his power." He looked between Rogue and Moira, "If you're going to go through this, you better do it now. Finish her." With that he turned and started to walk away, "Come along then children, you need to train."

The younger team members looked to Scott who merely nodded for them to follow him, leaving only him, Moira, Hank, Rogue, Storm, Logan and Gambit standing there.

Since the moment that Rogue's claws almost struck her, the claws that she, herself, gave the girl, Moira had been overcome with the levity of the situation, more so than she ever had before. She was risking the life of Rogue, tampering with her very genetic make-up, for something that may end up not working, or worse, maybe even killing them all. Inhaling deeply she looked to Rogue who shared her uneasy expression. She tried to smile, to reassure Rogue, to reassure them both. "You ready for this?"

She nodded, gesturing down the hall, "After you Doc." Briefly, as she fell into step behind Moira, Rogue's eyes met Gambit's, reminding him silently of what he had promised her.

It was a reminder that he didn't need.

Beside him, Logan let out a small, silent laugh, "She ain't very good at hiding how she feels is she?" Logan's hand fell hard on his shoulder, then, when Gambit tried to follow the pair. "Moira'll let us know if they need us. So Bub, what did you promise her?" Gambit turned and looked at him, and instantly, through all of Gambit's guards and well learned apathetic expressions, Logan knew just what it was that he had promised. He almost laughed—almost—if he hadn't known all too well how it felt to be asked the same thing. "She wants you to take her out, if she can't control it?" His hand fell.

"Something like that, 'Bub'."

"And can you do it? Can you take a life?"

Gambit looked away and walked slowly down the hall, calling "I've done it before," as he went.

Logan shook his head, watching him walk away, a small, understanding smile falling on his face. He knew better than anyone what Rogue had asked of the Cajun and he also knew better than probably the Cajun himself what he was going to do. "That's what I thought."

--

Standing away from the pair's exchange Scott placed a comforting hand on Storm's shoulder. "Ororo, are you okay? What happened in the Danger Room…"

She shook her head, but was unable to meet his eye, "I'm fine Scott, really."

"I haven't seen you lose control like that since…"

Her back stiffened, "I know."

"Something Emma said earlier and what happened just now has gotten me thinking Ororo. I need you to tell me, honestly. He's back, isn't he?"

For the first time their eyes met. She nodded.

His hand dropped from her shoulder, "Are you sure?"

"I wish I were wrong. Because this time, we don't have Xavier here to fight him. This time, it's all on us."

--

She wanted to curse. She almost had him. Then he was gone.

She knew that he was getting closer and closer. He was toying with them, reveling in their powerlessness towards him.

Swallowing her growing doubt and frustration Emma sat and watched the mutant activity, stepping back from the problem, and for a moment taking in the whole picture. She tried to locate the others identified as being with him—but even they had been hidden behind Onslaught's cloak…

She saw it then, faintly, amidst the throngs of mutant activity, nothing: a black hole of life. She swallowed hard, afraid to focus upon it, afraid to look too closely.

It was him. She was sure.

And he was near!

--

Moira gets Rogue to lie down as she scans the blood sample. Her eyes meets Rogue's for a moment, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She smirked, "You afraid too?"

"Class 5 is a lot of power Rogue; it's a lot of risk. I failed you before with Logan's powers; I don't want to do that again."

She swallowed hard, "Onslaught has your son boosting his power Moira, possibly to class 5, and that's not counting the other mutants with him."

"And if this doesn't work right?"

"Then the world dies a little faster doesn't it?"

--

Kitty was waiting for Peter outside the Danger Room. "Hey Pete."

"Kitten."

Her gaze was firmly placed on the ground, "I just wanted to thank you for earlier, in the Danger Room, when you grabbed a hold of me."

He cracked a smile, "I did not want you to phase into nothing." He raised a hand to wipe a strand of loose hair away from her face, and after a sigh filled pause, thought better of it and let his hand fall limply to his side, "Think nothing of it." With a frown he left her standing there, thinking over what he had said.

He saved her life, risking his own, and he told her to forget it. It was true that he was selfless; it was one of the traits that she admired in him, but never before had he brushed her off so easily. Her mind quickly went to the Danger Room, back to what felt like a lifetime ago when he had given his power freely to Rogue, to protect her from harm.

Rogue.

"Do you like her?" She called out, her voice trembling, stopping Peter in his retreat.

"Like who?"

"Rogue."

Dark brows knitted tightly together in confusion he faced her. "Rogue?"

Still unsure of herself she took a step forward, far too fed up with the men in her life to care about modesty. "Yes, Rogue. Do you like her?"

"She has been a good friend to me Kitty."

"Friend yes, but that doesn't answer my question. Do you like her?"

Hope grew within him. "Would you care if I did?"

She stopped. Did she care? If she were to be perfectly honest with herself then she would have to say…

"Come along children," Magneto said from the open entranceway, "We are waiting on you."

--

Still wearing a blush Kitty stood between Angel and Kurt, facing Lorna and Eric as he watched them all carefully.

"Charles Xavier is Onslaught. The darkness that he held at bay, the darkness that is felt by the entire world has overtaken him and turned him just as dark.

"And yet, under this dark exterior he is Charles Xavier still. He knows you all, better than you know yourselves. He knows your weaknesses, and your fears. And he will use them against you. He has watched you develop your minds and your powers, he knows better than you the limits that you have met and beat and how much further you can go with your development.

"You are to face this man who knows your minds, your strength, your fears and your hearts. They will be used against you.

"To face Onslaught and Charles you must forget what he has taught you, forget the limits and the restrictions that he has formed in your minds. Anything of him that you bring to face him will cost you or your friends your or their lives. Only in doing what he will not think you capable, what is not within your character to do, will you beat him and live."

Kitty watched him, her expression hard, not yet trusting the man whom had taken from them all so much and turned more still away from them. "Wouldn't he suspect that?'

Steal blue eyes met chocolate brown ones. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he smiled. "Charles always dealt in heroes; because heroes are bound by morals and codes. By what is right and good. To survive against Onslaught, mercy, a tool of heroes, is to be forgotten. No mercy, no holding back. Push aside everything you value, lock away your fears and do what has to be done, not merely what should be done. No matter the risks, no matter what else may come of it."

"Your children are out there, being toyed with like pawns, and you want us to act with no mercy?" Bobby said, disbelieving the gall of his speech; of his nature.

"My boy, there are billions of lives in the balance; I am willing to sacrifice anyone on either side to win."

"That's horrible."

"Perhaps, but that will be what ensures that we win."

--

Moira looked up after she withdrew the needle; finally exhaling her held breath. She frowned as she saw Gambit standing on the other side of the glass barrier. After checking Rogue's vitals, more than a little surprised that she was not yet awake, although pleased that Logan's healing factor was keeping her alive in the face of the clashing blood types, she moved through the barrier to where Gambit stood, a frown on his face.

"How is she?" He asked, not taking his eyes off of the sleeping girl, hands instinctively reaching for a deck of cards.

Moira followed his gaze and shrugged, "I don't know," she allowed. "She's made it this far, I'll give her that."

After a moment's silence Remy's eyes were drawn to his hands where his cards, usually under his mastery, were starting to float. Swallowing hard, he looked to Moira, and followed her gaze to the other side of the table, where instruments were levitating around the sleeping woman.

"Oh my God," The Scottish doctor whispered, her hands starting to shake. "Come on, let's get the others."

--

Scott, Logan and Storm exchanged worried looks when Gambit and Moira exited the med lab. Before any of them could speak, they could feel what had the pair worried as their clothing and Ororo's necklace began to defy gravity.

Scott swallowed hard, "Get Emma!"

--

Rogue covered her ears to keep out the screaming. There was so much pain. Around her the shadows were cowering back into the corners of her subconscious, looking at something just out of her sight.

Turning she swallowed hard.

There was Jean—no, the Phoenix. Not as a shadow and not as a psychic image. She was as real as Rogue herself. Around her the power that was reuniting with her crackled, coating her in pink flame.

Feeling betrayed and gullible for having believed that Jean would help, Rogue backed up at the feel of the Phoenix's power's heat. "What are you doing?"

Black eyes smiled down at her, "Winning."

--

I hope it was worth the wait. As always please R&R!!


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Still not mine—sad as always about this.

Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out, I hope that it's worth the wait. As always, please R&R.

Again, this fic is getting away from me and writing itself. I'll get the next chapter out ASAP so you can see for yourself.

Chapter 29

"It's a joke," Bobby grumbled as the team left the Danger room, heading towards the locker room to change, "Magneto of all people telling us what to do."

"He's known the Professor longer than anyone."

Bobby stopped and looked at Kitty, "Are you taking his side?"

She rolled her eyes, "He's on our side Bobby, remember? What's wrong with you?"

He looked to the floor, "Nothing Kitty. I'm sorry I snapped at you. This whole thing is getting to me."

"I think it's getting to all of us. I mean what else would have us taking Magneto at face value?"

Peter stopped beside them, "What's going on down there?"

For the first moment the youths took notice of where their teachers and leaders and Gambit stood, all looking towards the med lab.

"Hey Scott," Bobby called, not liking the fear that chilled even his blood, "What's going on?"

"Bobby, Kitty, you and the others better get out of here," Scott told them, his eyes not leaving the cold surface of the med lab door, one hand firmly on his glasses holding them in place.

Beside him Logan growled. He knew better than any of those present what was going on. Glancing at his watch he saw the dials spinning wildly. He remembered what happened the last time his watch forgot how to keep time—it was what caused the med lab's renovation only months before. And he had a feeling that he was going to see very recent history, in a sense, repeat.

Bobby, however, didn't understand what was so serious. "Scott…"

The rest of his statement was forgotten when the med lab door exploded off its frame, towards where the rest of the team were. A blinding ray of crimson light assured Iceman that his elder team members were protected from the thick metal. Opening his eyes again, he was surprised by who was standing in the then open entranceway.

"Rogue?" Bobby asked, taking a step towards the woman he once loved.

"No, not Rogue." Logan said harshly, not fully trusting his voice, knowing all too well the darkness that covered Rogue's once fiery eyes, "Phoenix."

Rogue's head turned at the sound of his voice, a thin smile spreading over the Southerner's lips. "What's wrong Logan? Didn't you miss me?" The voice didn't sound like Rogue's, and it didn't sound like Jean's. It was a mixture of them both, and the effect left chills running up everyone's spines.

Scott took a step towards her, not wanting to believe that Jean—his Jean—could have done such a thing in taking over Rogue's body, but knowing with duty over heart that his instincts in this matter weren't lying. "Jean, let her go!"

She laughed at him, and as she looked at him with a smile that saw into his soul, he was all too aware that she wasn't wearing any gloves.

Logan shook his head, looking with a grim expression to where Emma and Storm were joining them, "She should be trying to kill us by now; what's going on?"

Emma closed her eyes and reached out, "She doesn't have full control, Rogue's fighting her."

"How she doing?"

Emma sighed, looking at Logan. "Well, she isn't winning."

"Then we shall help." Magneto said from in front of the students. Sparing only a glance at his daughter, he raised his hand, feeling more than seeing her do the same. With the strength of their shared powers, their hands clasped together, their intertwined fingers lost in merging powers of their connecting poles.

As one they raised their free hands and a magnetic orb surrounded Rogue, lifting her off the ground, closing tightly around her.

Within the orb Rogue/Jean turned her head towards the magnetic pair. "Do you really think you can hold me?" With an inhuman scream her gaze was then fixed on Emma as she felt the icy mental fingers of the blonde telepath try to force their way into her mind. "Get out of my head!"

Emma shook her head, both hands poised at her temples, silently wishing that she could use both her powers, telepathy and her diamond skin, together. "It isn't your head. Why don't you let Rogue come out and tell you it herself?"

Red fiery light surrounded Rogue/Jean, barely being contained by the sum of the twin magnetic powers. With a laugh she pushed out with her hands and mind in tandem and the force field around her fell, and everyone was sent sprawling out across the cold floor.

Wolverine recovered first, with Gambit close behind, and together, they made their way towards her.

Rogue/Jean glared at Logan, "I thought you said you couldn't kill me again Logan."

He smirked at her, "I'm not out to kill you."

Behind him Gambit swung his staff, charged with kinetic power, hitting Rogue against the head, sending her to her knees. He shook his head, "Psychics always forget about Gambit, makes him sad really."

On the floor, Rogue shook her head and looked up at the man who still held the staff. She was starting to sweat, both hands against her head. His mouth dried at the look in her eyes when they met his. There was a pleading there that told him two things: Rogue was losing, and that she needed him.

"Remy," she whispered, tears starting to build in her eyes, "She's so strong. I can't do this, I can't beat her, please Remy, you have to do it. Please, save me."

He sunk down to her, and placed his hands on her wrists, holding her face to face with him. Swallowing hard he shook his head, hoping more than knowing that he was doing the right thing, "Non Chere, I can't."

Tears started to fall, "You promised me…"

A small guilty smile tug at his lips. "You know I've never been good with promises." He caught her then, when she fell forward, sobs shaking her tired body. Hardening his jaw he pulled her up so that he was again looking into her eyes, "I guess this means you're going to have to fight her."

"I can't, she's too strong."

"It's your head Chere, your rules. Don't let her push you around."

She screamed out in pain as she fell unconscious into his arms.

Everyone looked around to where Emma stood a shaking hand at her temple, her breathing harsh, "I had to strike when she was weakest, when Rogue was in control. Out here, Rogue would lose." She sagged then, in that moment from the strain of fighting both her inhibitor and the Phoenix in Rogue's mind. Beside her Scott's arms surrounded her, holding her tightly to him. She was glad to have him there.

She inhaled, gathering her straying thoughts and focused instead on the worried faces looking towards her for reassurance, "Now at least she has a chance."

--

There was a blinding light and Rogue was thrown into one of the corners of her consciousness. Her hand quickly went to her throat which still burnt red with the Phoenix's psychic powers. For the moment she could breath. Jean was locked in a prison of white energy. But she knew that it would only take moments before Jean was free and was descending upon her again. A hand fell upon hers then, in her moment of reprieve, and surprised, she looked up and saw her own eyes.

"Wha?"

The copy of her smiled from where she cowered in the darkened corner, David by her side. "You can beat her."

Rogue shook her head, as realization of the source of the strangeness within her overcame her. Facing her, in that corner was Marie, the one that clung to hopes of being human again. She was finally Rogue, mutant and hero. But in that moment of impending defeat, she could hardly notice a difference, "No, I can't."

"No. I can't. You aren't Marie. Everything about us that was scared, everything about us that held you back, is in me. In you is the woman we wanted to be, you're Rogue and everything she embodied. And she can win."

"Jean…"

Marie shrugged. "Is alone." She had it all worked out. It was a benefit of watching instead of living. You saw things lost on the rest of the world. "This is your mind, your rules, and you aren't alone." She gestured to behind Rogue; to where all the shadows she had collected were standing, all out of the shadows, all ready to fight. "They don't want to die Rogue, you can count on them."

Still unsure Rogue stood and stepped out of the shadows. Further away from Marie she felt her fears fading, and she hoped that was because of the strength she herself had. Behind her she felt the shadows step with her, and as the shadow of Magneto's hand fell on her shoulder along with Wolverine's, she knew she was ready to try and win.

--

Scott stood with Emma and watched as everyone again got to their feet.

In front of him Gambit lifted Rogue into his arms. "I want her under constant surveillance. Storm, do we still have the manacles Forge designed?"

She nodded, "Yes. It's in the storage room."

"Get them." He then focused on Emma, "Is there any way we can stop her telepathy once she wakes up?"

The blonde shook her head, "It's not her telepathy we have to worry about, it's her telekinesis. I know of no way we can…" A slow smile filled her lips as the answer to all her problems hit her. Her eyes sought out Magneto. "You helped to build Cerebro."

"Yes."

"Can you fashion a second helmet? One that can access telepathic abilities without allowing the wearer access to Cerebro's intel?"

His smile mirrored hers, "You, my dear, are sly indeed. I believe I can do as you ask, as long as I can gain access to Cerebro's plans."

"Emma…" Scott began to protest, only to have her gaze stop him.

"Scott, let him. I cannot stop her powers, but I can surely put them to good use."

"Lorna, stay with him." He watched as the two women left with the aged man. Shaking his head at how quickly control had gotten away from him, he saw the mess in the hall way, "Clean this up!"

--

"I must ask," Hank said as he helped Gambit position Rogue on a bed in the rubble filled med lab, "How did you know that your gamble would work? Did you sense that the Phoenix had not fully taken over yet?"

"Non, it was a lucky guess."

Hank paused a moment as he contemplated just how lucky they all had been, "You truly are worthy of your name."

--

Jean was free. Luckily Rogue, surrounded by shadows, and their gifts and strengths backing her own, was ready for her. Wearing Emma's psychic armor, backed by Magneto's magnetic shield and the key to all psychic warfare, her own will, she faced the woman whom she had at one time looked up to, and even envied.

She inhaled deeply, going over like gospel what Emma had told her. She was only limited by the strength of her will. For the first time in her life she didn't let herself doubt herself, she didn't second guess, she didn't wonder what she was doing. She knew that she was going to fight, and she KNEW she wasn't going to lose. Not in her mind, not while she still stood.

With a smile, listening to the whispers of her shadows, trusting them and their knowledge, she reached out her arms, not looking away from the dark eyes across from her, and within her hands, she held twin birds, built of psychic fire.

Black eyes turned brown, "No."

Feeling more power than she could ever imagine at her fingertips, knowing that in that moment the world was not out of reach, she pivoted her upturned palms towards Jean, and the birds, with an inhuman cry, took flight, straight towards their former master. In a flash of red light Jean was against a wall of her mind, one of the darkest, where she could for the time being, be locked away, in a prison of her own powers, backed once more by Rogue's will, which was gaining strength.

For then Jean was locked away... for then, Rogue had a chance.

For then, that was all that mattered.

--

I'll try to get the next chapter out asap. I hope that you'll be as surprised as I was at where this story is going. The final battle is shaping up to be an awesome one… I just hope I can do it justice.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Not mine, STOP ASKING!!

Author's note: This is getting pretty exciting for me. And I hope for you too. Please tell me how I'm doing.

Chapter 30

Emma inhaled deeply as she took the newly constructed helmet into her hands, and with it, moved towards the med lab. Without looking to Peter or Kurt, who were then on guard, she moved to Rogue's side, mentally probing the sleeping girl's mind. It was calm. She hoped that was a good sign, but until Rogue woke up, she couldn't say for sure. Frowning, she placed the helmet on her, hoping that in doing so, she wasn't stealing away whatever edge Rogue had gained.

Her task complete she left the men to their own trial, and left, to continue her own.

She remembered a time when she wanted to use Cerebro more than anything else at the institute, mostly because Xavier had told her that she couldn't. Now she was using it to track him down and the evil that held him. She was beginning to wonder why she had once been so obsessed about that empty room.

Sitting in movements that were quickly becoming boring and second nature she sat before the heart of Cerebro, lily white hands reaching for her own helmet, sliding it easily over her perfect blonde hair as she had time and time again.

As soon as her hands left the metal surface she knew that this time, her search would not be the same. A small smile filled her ruby lips as she suddenly saw the world through the boosted eyes of class 5 power. No wonder Jean had been so scared of what she could do. Only a woman like Emma could fully appreciate a world without limits--without rules. In less time than she knew would take to get her addicted to the power, she found him. Onslaught. And as she knew and feared, he was close, and he was not alone.

--

Peter looked over his sketchpad. Apart from Emma's brief appearance there had been no movement in the med lab since a quick clean-up effort had ended. That had been twenty thirty minutes before and since that time he had sat, with sketchpad in hand, alongside Kurt, whom had spent the time in prayer. Rogue had not moved since her attack in the hall. He was growing worried, too worried to even draw.

Sighing he looked to Kurt, "Does it help? Prayer?"

For the first time, the blue man looked up from the prone woman, "Sometimes prayer is meant to help those praying more than those who are being prayed over. I know of no other way to help."

He sighed, "I know what you mean." He studied her still figure with a frown. "I hope she wakes soon."

They fell silent then, in the aftermath of his hopes, when before their eyes; the gleaming metal helmet flew away from the sleeping woman. They stood in unison, Peter's metal armor sliding into place. "If it's the Phoenix," he whispered, "Port and get help."

Kurt nodded as in front of him, the shackles holding Rogue in place unfastened and she was suddenly free.

With a groan a hand moved gingerly to her head, and she tried to prop herself up on the bare bed. Her eyes opened then, and with a raised eyebrow she looked at the men to whom she owed each her life.

"You can power down Pete," she told him in a pained tone, "It's only me."

Relaxing he rushed to her side, helping her to sit up fully. "You won?"

Feeling strained at the new change in her mind and powers, she sagged into him, glad that he was there. "For now. It feels like she used my head as a punching bag."

He held onto her tightly, glad that she was once again in charge of her body, "You are going to be alright now."

Kurt shook his head, "I still cannot believe that Jean would do that to you; she was a friend."

"And she was reunited with the power that drove her mad, I shouldn't have been surprised." Rogue said shaking her head.

"How are you dealing with that much power?" Peter asked, feeling her unease and weak trembling within his arms.

"I'm not;" she told them honestly, eyes closing, feeling for the first moment the thoughts of others with a strength that rivaled Wolverine's heightened senses. "I'm putting most of the power into keeping Jean at bay." When she again looked up she noticed the worry in her friend's eye. Despite the growing panic that she herself felt she tried to reassure him--and herself both, "Don't worry, I have it all under control for now."

"Only for now?"

She couldn't meet his eye, "For now is all I need. All I need is for these powers to hold out long enough to face Onslaught."

"And then what?"

She merely shrugged, not knowing for herself the answer. She looked up as Logan came in, "Glad to see you back Kid. Come on, Emma thinks that she's pin pointed where Onslaught is going to be next."

--

"Are you sure that it's safe," Kitty asked looking around the room, "I mean what if Rogue loses control again?"

"What if I go berserker again?" Logan asked with his arms crossed, "Let her deal with it Half-pint. We'll know if she loses control."

"Or we'll be too dead to care," Bobby mumbled, his eyes looking to the open doorway, where Rogue stood with Peter.

Without a word she stepped back, letting the door shut behind her.

Behind her Peter put his hand on her shoulder, stepping closer to her.

With a sad smile she covered his hand with a gloved hand of her own, "I can tell they're scared of me. So are you. But thanks for trying to hide it."

"Ready to face them?"

"Like you once said, I can't hide in my shell forever."

"I didn't mean for you to lose your shell entirely. It does have its place."

Inhaling deeply she faced him; a sparkle in her eye belied the fear that wouldn't go away. Beneath all the conflicting emotions and fears, she was actually happy. "You know me Pete; I've never been middle of the road kind of girl."

"I am afraid that one of these days, I'm going to find you lying dead in a ditch." His tone was somber, and not meeting her eye, knowing what she would say if he spoke what he knew she must have been aware of, at least on some level, he led the way into the briefing room, where a map of Africa was on the main display.

--

"Cairo?" Magneto asked, "What would Charles want in Cairo?"

Ororo's eyes darted from Hank to Scott to Lorna and finally came to rest on Emma, "So, it's really beginning again?"

The younger mutants looked between themselves; the confusion added to the adults' worry muddled within Rogue's mind, but even then, two thoughts clearly echoed through her mind.

"Who're Apocalypse and the Shadow King?"

Magneto finally understood, but that didn't make him feel any better. In fact knowing only made it worse. "Oh my God. Charles wouldn't..."

"Charles no," Ororo assured him, "But Onslaught, led by the Shadow King would."

Emma again stood, "Charles warned me against the power of the Shadow King, warned all of us psychics. If he is with Charles within that body, if he is feeding Onslaught, then he is more powerful than anyone thought."

"Who is he?" Kitty asked the table in general.

"Bad news," Gambit answered, his head lowered, "Even in Ne' Orleans."

"He was a psychic that Charles battled in Cairo," Storm told them, her tone as cold as Emma's, "when I was a child. The Shadow King had taken thieves under his control and used them to gather together the materials to awaken Apocalypse."

"And who's Apocalypse?"

"The first mutant," Rogue whispered, being fed the story by numerous shadows and thoughts and nightmares. She closed her eyes, trying to keep out the worse on the onslaught. "The one who will reawaken to cleanse the earth."

The room grew silent.

"Exactly." Emma focused on Rogue, "It seems that the stakes are growing steadily higher."

Kitty swallowed hard, her own fear rising. "You know, when I signed on to the X-Men no one said I would be stopping the world from being cleansed."

"It comes with the genome," Angel said with a half-hearted laugh.

"No," Scott said sitting up straight, "It comes with giving a damn. It comes with knowing that if we don't stand that line, then no one else will. It comes from not letting anyone stand there alone." He looked at them each in turn, "The Professor beat the Shadow King before. We might not have him this time, but we have strength and conviction and the skill and the drive to do it again this time. And we have our ace," he said with a final look to Rogue. "But I cannot assume and I cannot ask anyone here to fight. I cannot ask anyone to risk losing their life. If anyone doesn't want to join us, I understand. Everyone wanting to come, wanting to stand that line, wanting to fight for the world we all believe in, the X-Jet leaves at midnight."

In the silence that grew Emma scanned the crowd, sensing from Peter, more than any other, a matter which she knew he needed to address. "I will take Rogue to the Danger Room for a crash course in psychic battle. I believe that Peter has something he wishes to discuss in the mean time."

As soon as they left, all eyes fell to the silent giant. He shook his head, "I cannot wish to fight."

"Peter..." Kitty began but fell silent when his eyes met hers. She knew in that moment that his reservations were about more than just himself.

"Rogue is going to die." He said, the words rising in his throat like bile. "She is ready to die."

"Peter she believes..."

"No!" He said, dropping his fist onto the table, the cold surface shaking under the impact. "No dream is driving her in this, no belief in the greater good. She is doing this because it was asked of her. She is doing this for us; she is killing herself for us."

"And you think not fighting by her side is going to keep her any more alive?" Logan growled.

"No one should die for me."

"Then don't let her! I don't like this plan anymore than you do, but it was her choice. Like it or not we needed the edge, but that doesn't mean that she's doing this alone. As much as we need her, she needs us too. She's not fighting alone, she isn't dying alone and we won't let her face any of her demons alone. And if we can't..." Logan looked towards Gambit, "Then somebody better not chicken out this time."

--

"Program telekinetic alpha 1. Safety off." Emma moved with pointed steps to the center of the Danger room opposite Rogue. Around them a number of metal cubes, varying in sizes from that of a person to a transfer trailer, rose on platforms from under the metal room's floor. "Now then," she said after a moment, pleased that Rogue was off her guard. There was something about making another psychic uneasy that gave her pleasure. "I want you to use your telekinesis and attack me with these blocks."

"Shouldn't we start with something easier?"

Emma cocked an eyebrow, "This is a crash course Rogue, you don't have time for something easy. Remember that your psychic powers are only as limited as your mind. And for someone who is currently channeling class 5 powers, these simple blocks should be no problem."

"The powers might be class 5, but I'm not. I have unlimited power in a limited body."

She shook her head, annoyed that Rogue still didn't seem to get it, "You still don't understand it do you; Jean's power isn't bound to bodily limits, it's bound to the limits of the human imagination. In the back of her mind Jean was always afraid of the darkness that her subconscious knew was inside her; it held her back. The power was always there. Even humans without powers are capable of extraordinary psychic feats.

"I can feel your fear Rogue; it is reaching me through your inhibitor as clear as day. You have every right to fear what is inside you. Jean's power is great and I can feel her fighting you even now. I know what it feels like to have someone else steering your body and your actions and being unable to break free. With that in mind Rogue I hope you truly understand the gravity of what I'm going to tell you next…

"Suck it up, be an X-Man, and move that god damned box!"

--

Rogue inhaled and withdrew from the world on the outside to that inside her mind. She looked to where Jean was, stuck to the wall, struggling.

She walked through the shadows that guarded the Phoenix, and stood mere inches away from her.

"You won't be able to hold me forever." She spat with a cocky laugh.

"You're right, I won't. But that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy on you to escape. This is my mind, my turf." With a smile of her own, she held out a bare hand, covered in telekinetic energy, and touched the woman before her, "So until that day, I need something of yours."

--

There was a smile on her lips when she again opened her eyes, her hands spread wide; her entire body covered in excess energy.

The air around Emma grew almost static as all the cubes started to tremble at once. The blonde, with an approving smile of her own, she reached out with her mind's eye before letting her diamond skin shift into place, and saw at once the difference within Rogue's mind. She had control, as much as she could, and underneath of it she could feel her clutching to the belief that she controlled it all.

Emma's smile grew; she was learning. Already she was starting to grasp the lesson that Jean and even Xavier had failed to learn: when a psychic didn't feel fear, they were invulnerable. It was a lesson that she had learned young, one that had failed her when she had learned of Scott's death. She had allowed her emotions to get out of her control, and when she was weak, she was taken. It was a lesson that all psychics should learn, it was one that she was sure Onslaught knew; and now it was one that Rogue knew too.

Oh Charles, she thought as she dodged a metal square the size of a motorcycle, You never thought that I would have made a good teacher here, just you wait and see what I can teach you.

--

Whoa, so Apocalypse is there… I don't know how that happened. It just kind of did. I hope you like it.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: Not mine

Author's Note: Here is a long one to make up for the lack of updates. This takes place right after the last chapter, takes us up to right before they leave, and has lots of Romy and hints and beginnings of other relationships.

I hope you enjoy! And thank you everyone for your supportive reviews. Best Readers EVER!

Chapter 31

It was almost 2 o'clock when Rogue finally left the Danger room, after getting a firm handle on the basics of telekinesis. Having Jean with her, the part of her that was actually Jean, the part not the Phoenix—the part that held the knowledge of the power then at Rogue's fingertips, definitely helped. Even then, as she walked down the hall, her head throbbing and her mind still picking up on the thoughts of others, Jean was whispering to her all she knew about her powers, and the dangers that came with them, the dangers that Emma had failed to tell her.

Rogue closed her eyes, trusting her other senses, now higher than she could ever imagine, to lead the way. It felt as though her entire life up until that week had been lived in only two dimensions; and then she received Logan's powers. He thrust her world into 3-D. The addition of Jean's powers, well they pulled her into an extra dimension. One she was wondering if she would ever be able to walk away from.

As keen as her senses were, and trusting in them fully, she was surprised when she rounded the corner and almost collided into someone.

Strong arms grabbed her shoulders, stopping her from making contact. The feel of the hands, even through the cloth of her shirts and arm-length gloves, the warmth that spread through her at their touch, told her more than the scent that was quickly catching up, who was there.

"Remy," she almost whispered, not liking her reaction to him, not liking how much he affected her. Not even Bobby could work his way through her defenses like Gambit could. Bobby respected her boundaries and knew that they were there for his own good. Gambit, well he never did care much for boundaries, and dared her to think the same.

"You okay Chere?" He asked her, his trademark smile gone at the tiredness in her eyes.

"Yeah, I just… couldn't sense you."

"You're a psychic now Chere, I'm immune to your powers."

She smiled, basking in the darkness of his thoughts, the black hole of energy that surrounded him, that threatened to suck her in. In her new world of too much detail, she found it very appealing. "Good." It was then, in that moment of peace that she was reminded of what had happened only hours before, when control of her life had been thrust into his hands. "Remy about today…"

He shook his head, "I couldn't do it Rogue." With a sigh he played with a strand of white hair that was threatening to fall in front of her eyes, "Not until I gave you a chance. I had to show you how strong you really are."

"Gambit…"

"Don't worry Chere; Gambit will do it next time."

"Good to know," she smirked, "but that isn't what I was going to say. I've had a hell of a morning and we leave in less than 10 hours. I wanted to take a nap. But," she blushed, "I'm afraid to be alone."

Gambit pulled her to him, holding her tight, happy that she had asked him, happy that with her world thrust so entirely upside down, she still needed him. "I would be happy to hold you in my arms until the end of the world. Even if that is tonight."

---

Storm shook her head. He was there, right where she knew he would be. Smiling she moved to him, sitting down beside him.

Without a word Logan set a beer in front of her. "I ordered you one."

She shook her head. "Isn't it a little early to be drinking?"

"We've got a fight tonight Storm, what else is there to do?" He asked, downing his own beer before looking to Harry for another. Setting down his then empty bottle he looked at her, noticing the tiredness of her eyes, and the limpness in her hair. "You're worried."

She nodded, "The Shadow King isn't someone to be taken lightly."

"What did he do to you?"

She smiled sadly, looking at her beer, "He killed my parents." Outside thunder rolled. "He controlled me, my body and my mind, to gather together materials to revive Apocalypse. The Professor saved my life, but he couldn't manage to take away my nightmares."

In unsure movements he reached over and, hesitating for only a moment, he pulled her to him, "We'll get him 'Ro, together." He smiled into her hair. Women, he was quickly coming to realize, seemed to be his growing weakness. Not all women, not the ones who wanted to turn heads, only the ones who just did. Women with power, women with strength, women with life—women who loved danger. Those were the women he was weak against. And here, amongst heroes, those women were in no short supply.

---

Kitty sat in an oversized chair, a book sitting on her lap. Her focus, however, lay not on the pages but on the world outside the window. She looked up when she heard someone approach her.

"It seems weird," she said quietly, "That tomorrow, no one outside these walls is going to know how close to death they all came."

"We'll know," Bobby told her, shoving his hands deep into his pockets, "That's what matters."

"It will only matter if we live."

"Kitty, if it comes down to it, to a moment when we cannot win, I want you to phase and stay phased until you can't anymore."

She shook her head, "I might not have signed on for saving the world, but I'm not going to back down from it," she told him with square shoulders. "I'm not a coward."

"After facing Juggernaut like you did, no one would ever think to call you one." He told her with a grin as he sat beside her. "It's funny isn't it," he said after a moment in a lower tone, "that we always end up together in times like these."

"We're friends." Her tone told him that friendship, however valued, was all there was ever going to be.

His grin widening, "I know that Kitty." He said, hugging her tightly, his head resting on her shoulder, letting his eyes drift closed, taking the moment to enjoy the solace that he was feeling in her presence.

"You still love her?"

He nodded. "What about you?"

"I only like her."

He laughed, "I didn't mean Rogue."

"Oh."

"So…"

"What makes you think I love anyone?"

With a shrug he stood, "Oh I don't know, maybe it's the fact that right now you're blushing? Just please don't tell me that you love Gambit."

"He is really good looking." She studied him a moment, "We're going to make it. All of us. Don't worry about her."

He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, "I love you Kitty, and I never want to lose you."

"You'll never have to, because we're all going to make it."

---

Gambit couldn't help but smile as he looked at the woman in his arms. Rogue's eyes were closed and she wore a smile that could match his own. There was something about her that had captured his attention when they first met: the way she carried herself, the way she warned everyone away with only a look. As he continued to see her, and actually got to know her, that something about her grew and had started to capture more than his attention. He knew it was dangerous to continue to be so close to her, when everything pointed at that being so very heartbreaking for both of them, but considering how much she was giving up for them, giving her this seemed so little in comparison, and no where near as much as a part of him wished he could offer.

"What power class are you?" She asked him after a long moment, her eyes not opening.

"Class 4."

"And with the implants?"

"Upper class 3."

"Most mutants are class 3. Were you happy being average?"

He shrugged, "Never thought about it like that Chere. At the time I was just worried about not killing anyone."

"Are you now?" She asked, no longer minding that he was holding her with hands that could easily kill her, hands that had killed before.

"Working with Stormy and Cyke… it's getting easier to believe that I won't have to worry about that again." He shifted to look at her. "What's this about Rogue?"

She smiled at him, "You only use my name when it's serious. I'm scared." She admitted.

"Of what?" He smoothed her hair away from her face, taking care to get every strand.

"Of not making it out of this alive. Of making it out and losing myself to the growing darkness inside of me. Of making it out of this and having everything I've gained go away."

"Getting power hungry?" He asked chuckling, hoping for his sake as much as hers to pull her out of her dark thoughts. He didn't want to think about how true her fears were, not just yet, not while he still had seven and a half hours to hold her.

"It helps to make you feel strong when you can stand toe to toe with Peter, and helps to make you feel unbreakable when you can take whatever beating Logan gives and give a beating back to match. And it helps to make you not feel so alone when you can feel everyone around you. What if I'm not any of these things without what they gave me?" A small smile that told of her pains filled her lips as she continued, "I'm getting greedy Gambit, I want to fight, I want to help, I want to be useful in the fight against the kind of power and hatred and darkness I can feel threatening to boil over inside of me every moment of every day."

He held her tighter.

She met his eyes, hers starting to glisten with tears that she would not let herself shed, "I don't want to die. I've stared death in the face so many times now, and each time something else has saved me. I know that I won't be this lucky next time. Next time me and Death tango, it's going to be up to me to make sure he blinks first."

Remy inhaled deeply. Storm had called them turning points. Those moments when your life changes: when you know you can never go back. His came when Rogue had asked him, with fear and trust in her eyes, to take away her pain, should it become too much. It was at that moment when he first noticed the change that now seemed so obvious. Not a change in her, but rather a change in him. He wanted her to live. He cared. And he wanted her to survive, not for anyone else's reasons, but for his own.

That realization both scared him and gave him hope. For the first time since he entered the Morlock's tunnels, he could see that there was actually a light at the end of it and maybe someday, he could actually bring himself to leave the darkness behind.

Then, in a longer time than he would ever admit, he was honest with her and on a lesser and much safer level, he was also honest with himself. "Rogue, I don't want you to die, as much as I don't want to have to kill you. So, if you can't find reason enough to keep on for the X-Men, for your family, for the world, or for yourself, then please Chere, please; please hold on for me. I don't want your blood on my hands. Not yours." He reached down and brought her fingers to his lips, and buried his head in her hands.

"I've never fought for anything that I actually believed in before," he told her after a long moment, bringing his face level with hers, "I guess it comes from never actually believing in anything worth fighting for. I may not see this cause in the same way as you or Stormy see it, but as long as you fight, I will too."

She grinned at him, pushing down the rising emotion that she didn't dare hope to believe, "If I didn't know you better Cajun, I'd say you were getting a little too attached to me."

He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her forehead, lightly touching her skin before pulling away before her powers could kick in, "Then maybe you don't know this Cajun as well as you thought."

---

Hank looked from the bag he was packing to the clock. It was almost 7. 5 hours to go. He shook his head as he returned to the task at hand. His nerves were getting to him. After countless years of being an X-Man, a doctor and a politician, he was still nervous when it came down to putting himself on the line. Beside him stood Moira, going over a check list for the third time.

"A penny for your thoughts, although I fear that they are severely under priced."

"I am just going over the medical kits Henry. I don't want you to forget anything." She set the list down with a sigh, "I wish I was going with you. I hate being left behind. It makes me feel weak."

"There is no harder thing in this world than having the power to do nothing but wait for a favourable outcome that is out of your hands."

"I don't know how women have done it for so long."

"Nor do I. Perhaps, like you, women of ol' placed the key of success in the hands of those going away, and took heart that they did their part."

She smiled, "Are you trying to make me feel better?"

"Is it working?"

"No."

"Then I was not."

"Thank you for trying Henry. And promise me that you'll take care of them. Bring them home. I'll put them back together again, just bring them home."

"With words as sweet as those, I shall not fail you. Just as you did not fail them. We will return, all of us Moira, every X-Man, every child and every father. I promise you this as an X-Man, and not as a politician, for we all know how much a politician's promises are worth."

---

Emma's eyes opened slowly. She was outside, meditating, settling herself for what lay before them all. Even before she could sense his thought she knew he was there. It was something that he and his brother had in common. They registered apart from the rest of the world, one was blind to her and the other shone like a light through the dim. She was drawn to him, like a ship in the fog is drawn to the light house, he brought her home. She sighed, turning to watch him as he watched her.

With a raised eyebrow she met him on the balcony.

"I would be surprised if Xavier couldn't sense you even in Africa."

He smiled thinly, "Sorry. I've been taking the inhibitor for granted; I'll try to keep my thoughts at bay." He straightened, looking down at her, "Although you were always good at picking up on them."

"They shine white,'' she told him then, looking away from him, "Like mine. They are easy to find."

"Listen Emma…"

She shook her head. "Don't."

"Don't?"

"I know this conversation off by heart. Our minds have had it before."

"Oh?"

"You will always love her, your soul is bound to her, and you know that she will be back, because it is her nature. She is the Phoenix: she will rise again."

"Will she?"

"She did before."

Scott whitened, "What?"

She laughed at his confusion. "And here Xavier convinced you all that was just a dream." She shook her head, "And did you also dream us together in the aftermath, our bodies together in passion?"

Could she see into his eyes, he would have seen the confusion as he tried to break the smoke-screen veil of the dream like thoughts that wouldn't clear. But she felt it. And she bathed in the feel, the feel of his thoughts, his light, as they leaked from his control, and surrounded her.

"I'll leave you to those thoughts. They are healthier than the ones you were thinking here before. It's getting late; I should get Rogue and prepare her."

Holding herself strong she left him, pulling at his thoughts, taking pride in how she had thrown him off his guard: how she always was able to throw him off his guard.

She was at the door when his voice stopped her, "Emma. Did we really sleep together?"

She smiled, and left him unanswered, her hope of again being surrounded by him, all of him, body and mind and soul, again renewed.

---

'Rogue,' a strange voice told her, breaking through her dreams, through the peace that had filled her, 'Wake up.'

Sighing, unable to fight the voice, Rogue felt herself waking up. Her eyes, still heavy, opened, looking into the eyes she had come to realize the power of. "Did you not sleep?" She asked him, stretching while not removing herself from his warm hold.

He nodded, "A little. What's wrong?"

Again she sighed, "Emma's coming."

"To take you from my arms?"

"It appears so." She looked away from him, "Remy…"

"Don't Chere. I want to remember you like this, not making excuses."

"I wasn't gonna make excuses."

"No? Well then, how about downplaying what you feel because you don't think you're going to survive this battle?"

"What if I don't?"

"Then I want it to surprise me." He tucked a strand of white bang behind her ear, "Now go, and don't forget what I said."

"Remy, thank you for coming into my life."

He swallowed, glad that his thoughts on that matter were still his own, "Go on Chere, don't keep her waiting."

Instincts telling her something was wrong, that he was hiding something, Rogue left the room. Emma was standing outside the door, her arms crossed. She didn't look at the blonde, "He's hiding something."

"Show me a man that isn't." She started down the hall, "Come, it's almost time. And there is still a lot for you to learn."

---

Okay so a quick note about the scene between Emma and Scott. There it was mentioned something about the Phoenix and how she has already risen again. This comes from an idea I have for a kind of prequel for the Movie-verse which may or may not happen. I hope it will and that it will be called X-Men: Genesis, and will take place over the first 2 years of the Institute's existence, with Storm, Jean, Hank, Scott, Alex, Lorna, Emma and Sage as students. Again I don't know if this is going to happen, since I'm also working on the sequel to this fic. as well.

I hope that this makes some sort of sense, and that you will forgive me for putting in that very awkward plug.

As always, please R&R and I'll see you again as they take off for the fight.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: Not my ideas in my words... so kind of like an academic paper without the citing and APA.

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, school, holidays and lack of computer definately puts a damper on creativity. Anyway, this takes the team up to take off. I hope that it was worth the wait.

Thank you for your reviews... more please?

Chapter 32

It was 10:30.

Rogue and Emma sat opposite one another in the vacant kitchen, the clock in the background the only noise, quietly ticking away the only moments their lives were still guaranteed. With her stereotypical blank expression, one that belied the mixed emotions and growing sense of worry that Rogue could easily pick up through the inhibitors, Emma handed her a cup of coffee.

"What is it?" She asked, not looking the smaller woman in the eyes.

Rogue shrugged, pulling the part of Emma still within her to the surface, allowing the blonde's coldness to reflect in her own expression. "I'm just wondering why you didn't tell me about the limitation Jean had… how if she used too much power it would weaken her and allow the Phoenix a chance to gain control."

Emma smiled thinly as she looked up. Spreading her senses out, she caught the faint difference within Rogue. And she was impressed, "You absorbed her fully then?"

"Enough of her to question your motives in not telling me. Like you knew I would."

"Rogue, I want win. I want to beat back the darkness and prove Xavier wrong. And I am willing to go to any means to do it. Even if it means sacrificing you."

"Kill one to save the many."

"To save myself."

Rogue laughed, "You know what, are better than the rest of them for one reason Emma, you're honest about your selfishness. They all want to make it out of this alive, and so, even though they may not like it, they're letting me take the biggest risk, so they don't have to."

"It's human nature dear." She inhaled, straightening, "Jean was right, even subconsciously she knew that there was a limit to what she could do, to remain in control of her darkness. You bathe in the darkness of others for long enough and you drown in it. Jean could sense the darkness in everyone; it fed into her soul, or as Xavier would call it, into her onslaught. By keeping her's back, he fed into his own.

"Luckily, Rogue, you have an advantage over most psychics, you have other personalities to dump your darkness onto. I looked at your file; Xavier thought that over time you could control the shadows in your mind, use their powers, their knowledge—like an encyclopedia if you will. You just might make it out of this alive. But you must listen to me."

"Why are you helping me? If you're willing to sacrifice me?"

"Because I like you. Because I see in you a part of myself. Because I'm not ready to give up on hope. Pick one; whichever one will help you sleep better. All you need to know is that, when the time comes, you can't doubt, you can't fear, you must believe. Everyone is trusting in you to put odds on their side. They are trusting you to make sure they come out of this alive. They are trusting you to be the hero."

"Heavy weight."

"You choose to bare it. Now you must be willing to die or be damned for it. Trust the power within you; trust that it will hold back the darkness until the deed is done."

"And afterwards?"

Emma smiled, "Move towards the light."

---

"Thanks for helping with the final prep," Scott said with a strained smile. It was 11, and so far that day he, Hank and Logan had checked the X-Jet a total of seven times, just to be sure.

"We're happy to help," Angel called from the roof. He was checking the rigging that they had set up over the cock pit.

Simple math had told them that there was no way everyone would fit inside, so it had taken only a little bit of convincing to come up with the plan that Lorna and Magneto would stay outside, creating a force field which would hopefully block them from surprise attack.

Sighing, Scott looked to where Peter, Kurt and Logan were, changing the tires of the oversized jet. He marveled at Peter's strength as he easily held the jet aloft enough for Logan to secure the tire that Kurt had ported into place. He didn't have to be a psychic to sense the sick feel of apprehension that filled the large room.

He wasn't with the X-Men on their last battle, but he knew that this time, the stakes were much higher. And while he hadn't been there (and if he was honest with himself, he was glad that he was spared that, that Jean had spared him that) he would make sure, this time, that the team, his team, his inheritance from the Professor, would make it back alive.

Smiling despite his growing nerve Scott looked over his shoulder when the hanger door opened and Gambit walked in, adjusting his long coat over his X-Men issued uniform.

"Looks good on you," Scott told him with an approving smile, "You were made to wear that uniform. Where's Rogue?"

"Talking to Queeny." Gambit said gruffly, pulling at the neck of his uniform. It was too tight, or maybe it and what it represented just felt that way. Either way, Gambit didn't like it. Nor did he like the growing feeling within his stomach. It wasn't fear or worry or anxiety. A life time of training had taught him to keep his cool. Instead, if he was honest with himself—something that he hated to admit that he was doing more of—he would say that it was guilt and discomfort. He was changing, and quickly becoming less and less comfortable being in his own skin. But, as his father always liked to say, he made his bed, now he had to die in it.

"Remy," Scott began after a moment, shifting his feet; the only tell that Gambit had thus far seen to show the older man's sense of unease. He had a good poker face. It was something that earned Gambit's respect, at least some of Gambit's respect, "Have you given any more thought to what I said before? To you having a home with us, after this is done?"

"Oui. Mais, I'm not a hero, I'm not the bon brother."

"Remy…"

His jaw tightened. "Gambit. Look, you can't just assume that I'm a saint because I am a Summers. I have done a lot of things I'm not proud of, things that have pulled me into the darkness. No angel will save me. No matter how much I may want it. After this, I'm leaving." With a shake of his head, Gambit turned away from his brother and headed towards a stack of old scrap metal, and leaning against it, lit a cigarette, hoping that it would give him the comfort that he was beginning to think would soon be devoid of his life.

"Gambit…"

"Leave him be," Logan said with a frown, approaching the eldest Summers brother. "If he wants to join up, he will."

"He's my brother Logan."

"And he also reeks of Magneto. He's at war with himself. Let him fight it. If he comes out of it on the right side, he'll know where to find you." With that Logan turned about to leave.

"Logan," Scott called, stopping the mutant in his retreat, "Thank you, for watching over them, while I wasn't here."

Logan paused, his thumb tapping against his fist, before looking back to where Scott stood, a questioning eyebrow raised at the visor-clad mutant. "Emma Frost huh? What is it with you and telepaths?"

Scott laughed, "There's something about a strong woman."

"I know what you mean," he allowed with a nod, before walking away, allowing that despite everything else Logan might say against him, Cyclops definitely had good taste in cars, motorcycles and women.

---

Peter frowned when he looked up. He was standing in the hall outside the Hanger, checking his reflection in the smooth metal of the walls. He always found comfort in them, standing tall and strong and silent, watching over everyone within their embrace. It was a feeling that he tried to pass on, trying to live up to it as a hero. He knew it was silly but…

"It's not silly at all."

Peter's eyes shifted slightly to his right, where Rogue's reflection was, showing her to be behind him… smiling.

"So you're coming along?" Rogue asked, eyebrow raised and gloved hands resting on her hips critically.

He smiled, feeling more at ease as he turned, looking at her, glad that she was near, "You know about that?"

"I'm a telepath now remember? And I have sensitive hearing. Good luck trying to hide something like that. You sure managed to shame everyone else out of their doubts about this mission though."

"I worry about you."

"Come on Pete, you know you don't have too, I'm a big turtle now." She laughed; glad to see him laughing with her. She liked Peter and if she had been different, if they had been different, she could have even loved him. But they weren't different and so she would settle for being there for him, standing beside him, and helping him, the way he was always willing to help her. Even if she had to trick him to do it. "Pete, there is something I want you to promise me."

"What?"

"If I don't make it out of this…"

"No!" He said, cutting her off, his hands rose, not wanting to hear it, "You are not going to die."

Persistent, she went to him and lowered his hand, covering it with her own, making him look at her, and listen. "Peter, if I don't make it, I want you to promise me that you'll look after Bobby for me… and tell her how you feel."

He lowered his head, and nodded as though by agreeing to her final wishes he was ensuring that she wasn't going to be coming home. "I will look after him. But, Rogue, I cannot tell her."

"Yes you can. And if it's my last wish, you'll have to. I've learned a lot in the last couple weeks, and the preciousness of time was the most important one. Please don't waste any more of it. None of us know how long we'll have in this world. Use yours to be happy. For my sake Peter—be happy."

He pulled her to him, hugging her tightly, making them both glad that she was now invulnerable. "You are not going to die," he whispered gently into her hair.

"If it means that you'll live Pete—if it means no one else has to die, then I would gladly give my life. But that doesn't mean I won't go down with a fight."

"Good," Emma interrupted with a frown. "Come along then, it's that time."

---

At 11:45 Emma entered the hanger with Peter by her side, where most of the X-Men had already gathered. Rogue was walking a couple steps behind her going over in her mind everything that Emma and Jean had told her about her new-found powers, about everything that was at stake. Almost without conscious knowledge her eyes sought out Gambit who was standing nearby, trying not to meet her eye.

Swallowing hard, listening to her own voice in her mind, above the others, she stopped and looked towards Emma, wanting to try something.

"Emma, do you really think that these powers are only limited by my imagination?"

"By your will." She corrected with a faint grin, not having to read her thoughts to know what Rogue had in mind.

Inhaling deeply, ignoring the rest of the room, she moved towards Gambit, pulling him to his feet by his coat, and took the cards from his hands, nervously trying not to look at his questioning gaze. With quivering movements and a blush she couldn't hide she pressed herself against him, an unsure hand snaking around his neck.

Automatically his arms were around her, and he was swallowing hard. "What are you doing Chere?" He whispered, in awe, not bothering to try to stop her; wanting her close to him, to comfort him, no matter the risks to him.

"Right now," she said in an uneven tone, her eyes locking with his for good measure, "I'm imagining that the air against our lips is a barrier," she leaned closer to him, soaking in the feel of his arms tightening around her in response, holding her close and safe, "And now, I'm believing that I'm not going to hurt you."

Smiling at her, at her use of Jean's powers, he closed the gap between them and he was kissing her, without fear, without holding back. With that kiss he told her all the things he couldn't find the words to say; and with that kiss he lost himself to the power that she had—not the powers that she gained from other people, but her power. The power of Rogue.

She smiled at him when she pulled away, finally needing a breath. "I did it." Laughing, not holding back, she threw her arms around him, letting him pick her up and twirl her in a victory circle. "I really did it." She said again, back on solid ground.

Quickly, forgetting himself, he kissed her nose, and shared her smile. "That you did. I only wish you had of done it hours ago when I had time to test your limitations."

Her smile fell. Rolling her eyes she pushed away from him, trying to will away the blush that was working its way into her cheeks. "There you go ruining things again Cajun."

Behind them a throat cleared. Taking an embarrassed step away from him, Rogue looked to Scott, ignoring his bemused expression, and avoiding the dangerous looks she sensed from Logan and Bobby.

"Are you finished?" Logan asked, looking between them, "Because we do have a world to save."

"Sorry."

"I'm not," Gambit told the ageless man with a playful smile.

Walking away, Logan growled, "I hope the Apocalypse gets you."

---

"Okay everyone," Scott said standing in front of the group of mutants willing to risk their lives and their world to saves others from sacrificing theirs, "This is it, this is the moment that all of your training and studies and preparation has led you to. Remember everything Magneto and Logan and Xavier taught you. Remember why you are fighting. It's not only to stop Onslaught, but it's to save humanity, and to bring the Professor peace. He saved us all in different ways and in different times, we owe him this, and to keep his dream alive."

---

Storm wore a smile as she watched Scott rally the troops before they set to work. For the first time in longer than she could remember it felt like he was really back. It felt good. It felt like home.

She looked up when Hank slid into the co-pilot's seat.

"Lorna and Eric in place?"

"Kurt and Warren are securing them in the rigging now." He said with a nod, looking around the familiar cock. "I remember when Forge first built the X-Jet. Alex and Scott fought over who would be the first to fly it."

Storm's smile grew at the memory, "And then you and Jean snuck in and took it out behind everyone's back. It took Forge a week to fix it after that."

The blue mutant's eye came to rest on her, his smile falling away, "Things have changed since then."

"They were bound to." They were silent a moment before Ororo again looked at him, "Do you have any regrets?"

"Apart from turning myself blue and furry?" He shook his head, "No. Well, one."

"What?"

"That I never kissed you when I had you under the mistletoe."

She laughed, "It would never have worked."

"Still would have been fun to try. But Forge was around then."

Her smile fell, "Yes, Forge. Have you heard from him at all?"

He nodded, "Just after the Cure was released. He's working for SHIELD on satalite technology. He's well."

"That's good."

"He asked about you."

"And?"

Hank sighed, "I told him you were still fighting the good fight and that you were making the world a better place."

"And he didn't like that."

"Most likely not. But then again, you know Forge. The only man I know more of a pacifist than Charles. Don't wait for him Ororo."

"What makes you think I am?"

Hank thought it over a moment and then let it go, "I was surprised to see that Wolverine stayed on after Alcatraz."

"Maybe he's found a reason to stay?"

"Maybe he's found his reason to fight." He stood up with a coy smile, placing an oversized hand on her petite shoulder.

She rolled her eyes, "Tell them we'll be prepped in a minute."

Ororo sat there, looking over the controls and dials that Forge had built, that once gave her comfort when the one-time couple was first parted. Now, that reminder was gone. Now they were a reminder of trips with Jean, of teaching students, of running through scenarios with Scott, of being an X-Man. That was something that Forge never understood.

She looked over her shoulder where the team was coming up the ramp. Logan was batting Angel's wings out of the way with a frown, stepping past him and Bobby who were talking with Kitty, the young woman rolling her eyes at the pair.

Ororo smiled, happy.

She was now with X-Men, people who truly understood why she fought, and why she would go on fighting and who she knew would fight for her. And she was glad.

---

So I always liked the idea in stories when everyone sort of came together in some small way before a battle, as a way to prepare in case they don't make it. So I did a little of that here, and there may be a little more in the chapter. And then... THE FIGHT!!!!!

bwahahaha


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Author's Note: So I just realized that even after this fight there is still a lot of this fanfiction left to write between tying up loose ends with all the characters and setting up for the sequel that I hope will happen. I remember when I started this and thought it would be done in 10 chapters.

As always please R&R, I like knowing how I'm doing, and thank you everyone who have reviewed thus far, it keeps me motivated to finish this. And thank you everyone for staying with me and seeing where this is going. I hope you think it's as interesting as I do.

That's it from me… enjoy the rest of the ride.

Chapter 33

Moira stood and watched—eyes mere slits when the engines started and a backlash of air hit her—as the X-Jet began its ascent into the night, and into the unknown. Her lips pressed together tightly as she stood there, long after they were after sight, and long after the doors started to slide close again. Alone she stood there, looking around the world that she was always just on the outside of, and she held her arms tightly around her body, hoping she would see them all again, alive, and soon.

"You taught them well Charles," she murmured, finally moving towards the med lab where preparations for the unknown had to be started; the rosary that Kurt had given her for comfort dangling from a clenched fist. "Let them live, please, let them all live."

---

Kitty sat back with a deep breath as the familiar world she belonged to faded away beneath them. Behind her Kurt was praying, the words washing over her, not bringing her the comfort that she knew that it brought him. She looked beside her, where Peter sat, arms crossed and eyes closed. She knew he was thinking of his family, of those he was leaving behind.

Swallowing hard she reached out and placed her hand, always feeling small next to him, on his bare arm. She smiled weakly when he looked at her, surprised.

"Kitten?" He asked worried at her pale features, "What is it?"

She blushed, "Pete, would you… please don't laugh when I ask this: but would you hold me until we get there? Like you did that time when I was sick?"

Unable to speak he nodded and placed his arms around her, drawing her to him gently, always marveling at how strong she was for someone so much more delicate than himself. He looked across the aisle to where Bobby sat, with Angel. Iceman smiled at Peter and nodded approvingly. Swallowing his surprise Peter drew Kitty closer to him and kissed her lightly on the top of her head, intent, for as long as she let him, to be her knight, even without wearing his armor.

----

Bobby watched them all. Angel looking out the window as they passed over the ocean, Hank writing a report to Washington that he had been putting off, Kurt praying, Peter holding Kitty protectively and proudly, Logan popping and retracting his claws, Scott talking on the Comm. with Lorna and Magneto, Storm sitting quietly thinking, Emma standing guard over them all, and Rogue sitting with Gambit silently watching as he mindlessly did card tricks for her. And there was he, the Iceman, alone once more.

No, not alone. At least not in the same way. He had been alone once. When his powers first manifested, knowing how his parents viewed mutants, being alienated from the one friend he told… and then Xavier arrived, with Jean and Scott and suddenly, he belonged. Sure, he lost his best friend John to the darkness inside of him, he lost his first love to fate and his own stupidity: but as long as he was with them, with the X-Men, fighting for the dream that was bigger than them all, and on a more personal level, fighting for those people who gave him somewhere to belong… then he could never truly be alone ever again.

In that moment, when he stood uncertainly between the life he left behind and possibly dying for the dream of a life that may never happen, he knew that it would have to be enough.

---

Emma stood between Storm and Cyclops in the cockpit, her mind spread out, feeling their way. Since they took off she had the sick feeling that they were being watched. Spying her own reflection in the X-Jet's windshield, seeing the darkness that was pooling in her eyes, just outside of her mind's conscious sight, she knew, in the gravest of ways that she had been right.

"No…"

---

Rogue inhaled deeply, trying to push away the doubts and fears that the others couldn't shake. Not that she could blame them really; they were all walking into an unknown that they may not walk out of again. But they were all brave enough to try.

And for them, so was she.

Steadying her consciousness, shushing the voices that would never really quiet, she focused her mind's eye on the cards idly passing between Remy's fingers, and with a smile, picked one from his grasp. Siphoned memories told her that finite mental control over small objects, purposefully molding something exact to her will, was harder than throwing heavy objects, was a true sign of skill for a telepath. She plucked four more, and brought them to the first and slowly, ignoring Gambit's bemused smile, stacked them together. Doing it better with her mind than she ever did with her hands, she started to build a house out of cards.

She smiled as she took the last card, aware in the back of her mind that the others were watching her, sweat from continued concentration starting to bead on her forehead, and placed it at the very peak of the house. With triumph she started to turn the house, all the various cards being willed together when all of a sudden, before she could raise any form of defense, darkness flew across her soul and she heard "No…" from somewhere outside of her.

The cards fell with a start. Everyone was looking at her, confused. Had no one else felt that? She glanced to Logan, who was on alert. Good, she wasn't going crazy yet. That meant…

An alarm sounded. "Magneto!" Scott yelled into the Comm., "Watch your flank, something is coming in fast!"

They all looked out the window to where a scarlet hued orb was nearing them.

Emma's eyes met Rogue's, "Scarlet Witch," Emma told them, holding onto the supports for dear life.

"So much for the element of surprise," Bobby exclaimed as the bolt hit.

From where she sat, Kitty was aware of what was happening by the sound the jet was making and the sparks that were coming from the computer consols. It was the same thing that happened whenever she phased through anything electronic: The X-Jet was dead. They were somewhere over Africa… and falling fast.

---

Eric's hand was getting tired. He wasn't using much energy; in fact considering the length of the trip he wasn't even feeling the slightest drain. Lorna always did have that effect on his powers. It was how he knew that she was his, she completed him, and she fueled him the way that David did Charles. It what had kept her safe, from the world and his plots to overtake it. Had she belonged to someone else, he would have used her and not Rogue that faithful day on Liberty Island. Looking at her now, the strong woman she was, the strong woman that her heritage and genes wouldn't have allowed her any other alternative than to be, he was glad of his choice.

Like him, her arm was raised, creating a small field around the jet, helping to cut down on the air resistance. And like him, she was getting bored. A small smile curled her lips when she felt his eyes fall on her yet again. "What?" She asked into her headset, glad that those inside couldn't hear any possible conversation that her father could possibly think to want to have.

"Have you given any more thought to what we talked about?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And you used the X-Men to do your dirty work. You used them to get you that information. How long did you know it was there?"

"Since Mystique broke into Stryker's office," he admitted, no sense of remorse finding its way into his tone.

"I looked at what they brought back, of who you would be up against."

"I never said freedom would be easy child."

"But going up against SHIELD? Have you any idea who they are?"

"Yes Child, they are part of the government that hides, that plans holocausts and wars and secret weapons. It's the part of the government that wants to see mutants destroyed."

"They seek peace…"

"They seek to keep mutants under human control!" The metal binds holding them in place tightened, and she could feel her powers pull towards him.

She shook her head. "They employ mutants. They are trying to find a middle ground."

"By building Sentinels?"

Lorna blinked. "What?"

"Magneto!" Scott's voice interrupted, "Watch your flank, something is coming in fast!"

They looked to their left, at the trademark sphere that told them that their gypsy relation was close at hand. As one their arms reached out, uniting their powers, hoping that together, they could keep out the odd-shifting powers.

But, as always, luck was definitely on Wanda's side. Lorna wanted to scream as she felt her powers shift, her pole change. Suddenly she and Magneto were the same, they were repelling one another and she was struggling just to hold on. The scream that had longed to be released won when before her eyes, Magneto's rigging failed, and he was flung away from her and from the falling jet into the darkness over Africa.

---

Storm blinked when she caught sight of Emma's eyes, of the darkness that was forcing its way through, just for a moment, before the blonde forced it aside, expelling it from her mind's eye. But it was enough, and Storm knew who had been looking through her once blue orbs. The Shadow King.

He knew that the X-Men were near.

Just as she could feel him within her heart, within Africa, her home. There was a darkness there that she had long tried to forget, a darkness that never could ebb very far from the corner of her nightmares, always watching on, always hoping for her to fall.

She was ready then for Wanda's powers, or rather, she was ready for the unknown that always came with the chill across her spine that had just left her soul remembering the torments of her youth. With eyes an eerie white, an upturned gale caught them, slowing them. Around her she could hear yells as Kitty, Scott and Emma worked at trying to get the Jet up and running.

"We're still coming in too fast," Scott said, looking between controls, "There's no answer from the roof."

"Something happened to their powers," Emma said through half closed eyes, "Magneto's gone."

"Kitty…"

"Sorry Scott, the computers are still offline."

Swallowing hard Scott took a brief second to weight his options and the strengths of his team. It didn't take long to know what had to be done to save them all. "Bobby, keep working on the computers, Emma, scan around, I want to know who the hell is out there and where they are when we land. Kitty, phase Rogue out there." His eyes turned to meet the skunk-haired mutant, "Time you learn how to land."

Rogue nodded and slowly made her way to Kitty who was kneeling on the floor behind the cockpit, a reassuring smile on her face, "Deep breath." Together, anchored by Kitty's legs, still mostly tangible, they lowered through the bottom of the jet, "When I let go," Kitty said when Rogue was fully outside, "You're going to be hit with the full force of the jet and gravity and the winds."

Inhaling deeply Rogue nodded, and true to the younger girl's words, as soon as she was released she felt like she was being squished between Storm's winds and the jet. Trusting in her healing factor and invulnerability, she turned so that her back was against the jet, and, wishing there had been time for more flying lessons, she pushed upwards, trying to hold back the surge of psychic power that was threatening to take over. Sweating from the duel pressures, physical and mental, she sent out a silent cry of joy when she felt the jet slow, and the wind's die down. She was controlling the jet's descent. A moment later she heard the familiar whirls of the jet's engines as they turned over.

Smiling, she saw a petite hand in front of her as Kitty phased down to bring her back in. She grasped it, and soaked in the feeling of her body being spread apart as she was brought back inside.

---

"Are you okay Lorna?" Rogue heard Scott say into his Comm. as she re-emerged into the jet with a shared smile with Kitty.

"Yes… Magneto?"

"Angel is looking for him now. We can bring you in…"

"No. You're down to emergency power right now; you'll need me up here when we land."

"Alright, we'll be bringing her down shortly."

"You did it Bobby," Storm said with a smile, as she sat back in her chair.

"Kitty isn't the only computer genus around." The blond said with mock bravado.

"How long until we get full power again?"

"It will need a complete reboot before it will be capable of maintaining normal functioning."

"Emma," Scott asked, looking at the blonde, who was motionless, a hand held to her temple.

"They are nearby. I suggest landing over there," she said pointing to a place on the sensor, "They are over here. Waiting." She said shifting her finger slightly to the left.

"Who's there?"

"Onslaught and David's powers are blocking most of my efforts but… I believe we can expect to find both Maximoff twins, Pyro, Juggernaut, Blob, Avalanche as predicted and… Sabertooth."

A growl came from the back of the jet as six claws popped out, the light glinting off their metallic surface. "He's mine!"

"Angel's coming back," Rogue said from where she stood with Gambit beside her, her gaze unfocused, listening for thoughts that were steadily getting nearer. "He's scared… and he didn't find Eric."

Scott nodded, giving controls over to Storm, "Okay, when we land, they're not going to give us time to prepare. The main hitters are Onslaught, Shadow king, David and Wanda. If we can take out David and Wanda then the others should be easier. Emma, David is yours. Gambit, you and Lorna will take out Wanda. Rogue…"

"No." The succubus told him, her eyes never leaving Emma's. Both knew what they had to do to make it through this fight, and who had to do it. "I need Wanda."

Emma nodded, "And Gambit is better suited for David." She smiled, sensing the older Summer's protectiveness over his brother, "I will distract Onslaught."

"Shadow King is in there too," Storm told the psychic in a tone that left her no room for argument, "I will help you keep him distracted."

Scott frowned, "Alright. Gambit you and Lorna will take out David, Storm and Emma have Onslaught/Shadow King and Rogue has Wanda, which leaves the rest of us to take down the others. Remember, they're trying to awaken Apocalypse, so we need to stop them quickly. But they may be innocents in this matter, under the control of Onslaught or the Shadow King, so don't use any more force than necessary."

Gambit frowned. "And who's gonna tell them to be gentle on us?"

"We're coming in," Storm said from the cock pit as Angel flew in with Kitty's help.

"This is it," Scott said taking over the controls once more, "Everyone on your toes… it's time to save the world."

---

I'm not sure if I killed Magneto… I really hope not. Oops.

Up next is the start of the battle. And hopefully they will be in time to stop Apocalypse from rising because I really don't want to write that… yet.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: still not mine

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, here is a short one, as a sign of good faith. More soon. I hope.

Let me know how I'm doing.

Chapter 34

"We're bringing her down," Cyclops told them as he maneuvered the X-Jet into its descent, "Any sign of them?"

"Not on the sensors," Storm said looking over the controls one final time.

Emma smiled from between them, "They know we're here, and they're trying to break through the inhibitors."

"Will they?" Storm asked glancing up at the blonde.

Emma shook her head, "Not while Rogue is letting me tap into her powers to keep them out. And lucky us, they don't know what she's capable of… yet." Her eyes fell to Scott, "Don't worry," she told him, turning towards the others who sat in steely silence, "I'll be alright."

---

The sun was well set when they touched down, but the sand beneath them was still giving off heat as they took their first tentative steps off the jet, all on guard for the trouble that they knew lay just beyond the next dune.

Almost as one, in mirroring actions that unnerved their companions further, Rogue and Wolverine sniffed the air, "They're downwind," Logan told them with a sneer.

"They're at the temple," Emma explained, shielding her eyes from the momentary dust storm, wondering, silently, if it was a sign of Ororo's unease. If it was, the white haired woman was hiding it as well as Emma herself could—at least on the outside. "They're trying to free Apocalypse."

"No," A voice said from their left, sending shivers down spines and settling heavily into bellies, "Not all of them."

As one they looked to where the sandstorm was beginning to settle down, to where Wanda, Sabertooth and the Juggernaut stood, above them a dark figure, who could be no one other than Onslaught himself, hovering mid air. None among them could have been capable of transporting them so close to the X-Men without Logan and Rogue and Emma knowing it: no one short of Xavier and the Shadowking. The uneasy feeling within the X-Men, the good guys, grew as they couldn't help but wonder: just how powerful was he?

Cyclops looked away from them to Kurt, "Port Gambit and Lorna as close as you can to the temple." His eyes shifted to Gambit, "David is your priority. Hank stays with me. We get Juggernaut, everyone else, stop the others, make sure Apocalypse stays in his grave!"

Remy spared a final glance to Rogue before moving to Kurt, preparing to let himself be 'ported' away to where his own battle waited, and hopefully the key to his atonement.

---

Wanda watched with a frown as the plan was spoken, and as Remy and Lorna, her sister, moved to the blue skinned mutant, who, in the depths of her clouded memories, seemed familiar to her. She sneered. If they thought it would be that easy, then they truly deserved the wrath of the witch.

Fingers moving in signs that only held meaning to her, red surrounded them and with a smile that spoke of the darkness that was filling her soul she sent it towards the X-Men, towards Kurt, who was then, in painful moments, finding his skin turning a truly humanly pale.

"Mine powers!" Kurt murmured; looking in shock at his hands, as his three fingers began to split, becoming five.

In the confusion of that moment Juggernaut and Sabertooth, with snare and scream, ran forward. Reacting as quickly, Wolverine met Sabertooth as Juggernaut found the sand fall away under his feet, as Cyclops let loose an optic blast, creating a chasm under the mutant's feet, and the unstoppable mutant found himself 12 feet down.

"Rogue…" Emma yelled, her eyes focusing on Onslaught, who still, until that moment, had not made a move, "He's going to strike!"

Swallowing hard Rogue made up her mind. There was one chance, she knew, to give everyone the chance they needed to defeat Onslaught, to push back the Shadow King, to keep Apocalypse buried and to make sure that everyone stayed alive during the effort. It was a slim chance, hell it was a crazy idea that probably wasn't going to work. But she knew she was going to do it, because they were counting on her to be the hero, they were counting on her to bring them all home. As she took the inhibitor off, allowing, in that moment all the psychic energy she had willed back to the fingertips of her control, to allow Onslaught to see fully what she held within her, the one thing that truly scared the likes of Professor Xavier, she felt comfort in the fact that no matter what happened to her, no matter how wrong her idea may be and how lost she may get, the X-Men would still be alive to bring her home.

A smile spread over her face as her eyes met Onslaught's and his fear swam over her, fed her darkness that then seemed almost alive. Allowing it to feed her fully, to give her the courage needed to hold back that darkness, she willed time itself to slow, just as she had seen Xavier himself do time and time again. As everyone reacted around her in slow motion, X-Man and Villain alike, Rogue, unaffected, moved quickly to Wanda, taking off her glove, reaching out with a bare hand towards the green-eyed mutant, and grabbing onto the exposed skin of her soft face.

She could feel time righting itself once more around her, as her focus dwelt on the mutant at hand, but still she held on. In the back of her mind Rogue could feel the voice of Marie, now a fully independent psyche, yelling at her, willing her to let go before too much damage to both Wanda and Rogue could be done. Rogue's genes were still mutating, her native powers were still unpredictable. But somewhere, deeper and darker than Marie would ever go into Rogue's subconscious, there was hope. There was hope that whatever Wanda's powers did to Kurt, they could also do something for her.

As the powers to make the improbable possible filled her, as memories and knowledge filtered into her overpowered body and mind she started to feel as she knew Magneto and Shadowking and other superpowed individuals, drunk on their power, felt, like Gods among mortals. This thought causing reason to return and she let go with a gasp, shuddering as she let Wanda drop, convulsing, to the sand. She stood straight, time returned, everyone looking at her in surprised disbelief, a cold smile filling her lips.

She glanced around and she knew, with bittersweet certainty that her plan was now crazy enough to work. And in that moment she knew that the old saying was right, and all the odds were now on her side.

Her fingers worked in configurations that she had never seen before that night but knew would spur her newly acquired powers into action. Red surrounded her fingers as she finally looked at the X-Men through a pair of newly green eyes.

"Nightcrawler," she said in a mix of accents that sounded strangely comforting to her ears, "take them to the temple."

Swallowing hard the pale mutant shook his head, "Nein, I cannot."

With a sly grin, she let the powers fly, "Yes you can!"

---

The smell of brimstone filled the still night air.

Seven bodies snuffed out of existence, held together by one mind, one will, one faith that they will all be put back together again at the right place, in the right time and in the right form. Kurt—jarred by losing his powers, something that, after many years hating himself for having, he had grown to accept—felt for the first moment in a long time, his faith fail him as he ported. In one instant his genome was righting itself and his powers were tested to limits that he never thought physically possible. Pain was exploding around him, tearing him apart and pushing him together. His brain clawed at his skull, his eyes watered, and for a long-agonizing moment, he felt as though his insides were going to win their war and burst out into the world.

---

They couldn't see over the Dune to where their boss and cohorts had left only minutes prior. It was quiet. That didn't set well with any of them.

Blob stood beside Pyro, whose fingers nervously played with his lighter, flicking it open and close, open and close, open and close…

A hand closed over his own. Looking up, Pyro saw the glaring features that almost mirrored his former bosses.

"Do you mind?" Pietro asked with a sneer, "Some of us are trying to work." Taking the lighter in movements quicker than the eye, Pietro was then off in a blur, coming once again, to take up his post, guarding the comatose David.

Not far off the last of their numbers, Avalanche, was the only one actually working. He stood by what was only then a small triangle, barely seen under the sand's surface. Eyes rolling back into his head, he extended his consciousness down, deep down, further down than anything alive could go. Feeling out the crust of the earth, he pulled it up, towards the surface, and smiled as they started to shake.

Before him, little-by-precious-little, the triangle grew larger as the sand shook away from it, tumbling back down upon itself as the triangle turned into a temple, into the beginnings of a pyramid…

But then, the smell of brimstone filled the air, followed very closely by a blood curdling scream.

---

A short one, I know, but it will soon be followed by more. I have the fight storyboarded; now it's just filling in the details. It's crunch time at school right now, I have essays due, and finals only a few weeks away: which of course means that I will probably work on this a lot as a source of procrastination.

We can always hope. Hope you like. Let me know.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: not mine, please don't sue.

Author's Note: The rest of the fight is outlined, and should be another 2-3 parts, depending on where the characters take it. The story itself will probably be another 10 or so chapters because there are a lot of characters to give a resolution to.

Please check the end of the chapter for a note about a source of some of the content of the chapter.

Please, if you love me, R&R and let me know how I'm doing. Enjoy!

Chapter 35

Rogue closed her eyes and her mind to the pain of her companion, to the man who had once saved her life, hoping to help as much as she could, as her hex bolt did its intended job and Kurt and the others were gone in a large puff of brimstone tainted smoke. Willing everything to be alright, and trusting in those with him, she turned her attention then to matters closer at hand, and to the proverbial bigger fish she still had to fry.

Around her the battle was raging. Sabertooth and Wolverine were fighting tooth and claw, something that she too was feeling the itch in her knuckles to do, in the bone daggers just out of sight—but that craving would just have to wait. Not that far off, Cyclops and Beast were fighting against Juggernaut, already they had off one of his five clasps that held his helmet in place, the key to his unstop-ability. And behind her Storm and Emma were holding their own against sand creations summoned to, as Rogue guessed, keep them busy. Which just left her. Looking at Onslaught.

Maybe it was because she absorbed Logan one too many times, or maybe it was the power overload, but she couldn't help but do what she then did. "Well now Sugar, you ain't too pretty at all."

"Do you think you can really stop all my powers combined?"

"Your powers combined against mine. This should be interesting. Especially considering…" She smiled, and when Onslaught next blinked, she was no longer in front of him, but beside him with a bare hand outstretched, "My powers are still letting me combine more!"

---

The smell of brimstone was the first sign that Onslaught's men weren't alone; the scream that accompanied it was the second. Letting instincts guide them, the X-Men went into action, knowing that it wouldn't be long before they would be joined.

Kitty was on her knees in an instant, her arms surrounding the blue mutant who was again blue, but smoldering with brimstone fumes. His eyes were closed, and breathing was harsh. Wiping his forehead with soothing strokes, hoping to calm and give comfort to the man who was muttering and shaking in his slumber, her eyes flicked to Bobby's, both wondering what Wanda, and then Rogue, had done to him.

Bobby clenched his jaw as he donned his ice armor, never shifting his gaze from the girl with the fallen mutant, the first of their ranks to make a sacrifice. No, not the first, he reasoned as he put a wall protecting them from Onslaught's goons, hopefully buying them enough time to regroup: Rogue had been the first. He only hoped that her sacrifice, which they were only now seeing the full extent of, was enough to protect the rest of them from the same kind of sacrifice. And Bobby couldn't help but hope that her sacrifice would not be in vain.

"Kitty," Lorna called, taking command, knowing at the sight of those around her, all but the war-weathered Gambit, that she was needed in that role, despite her own losses, "Stay with him. Angel, help him if you can. Everyone else…"

"Prepare for the Acolytes!" Pietro called as he stopped among them, bringing his fists down square between Bobby's shoulders. As the wind left his lungs, the ice wall was smashed by the Blob.

Colossus rushed forward to meet the fat man, Pietro continued to pick on Bobby, Lorna looked to Gambit and nodded, entrusting him to know what he had to do. She then looked to Avalanche who was continuing to raise the temple around them. At least, she thought with a smile, levitating towards him, he was foolish enough to wear metal armor.

Gambit cast one final look over his shoulder, staff in hand, before moving away from the rest. Not far off, in a simple tent, was David, lying unmoving in his comatose state. This was going to be easy. Too easy he realized as the ground around him started to shake. Red on black eyes widened in surprise as he spun on his heels, turning in time to see Blob closing in on him quickly. Wasn't Peter suppose to be dealing with the fat man? Eyes quickly shifted, and then widened when he found the metal man. Merde! He wasn't alone. Sending out pity to the man whom he suddenly found himself respecting, Gambit turned his attention to the Blob, wondering as he pulled out a fresh deck, just how unmovable he really was.

---

Lorna hadn't been there the last time anyone had tried to raise Apocalypse, but she had heard enough stories from her husband and brother-in-law to know what it meant if they succeeded this time, and that by the sight of the temple, with sealed doorway quickly becoming visible, that they weren't too far away from their goal. With anger that would make her father proud, she rose so that she was hovering not far from the elemental mutant, and with a flick of her fingers and a smile that was genetic and cold enough to make blood freeze in fear, Avalanche found himself flung across the desert sand, into the very temple he had been trying to unearth.

"Bitch," he hissed, fighting the force of her power, trying to free himself enough to use his own birthright. He managing to look at her; his eyes rolling back into his head and with a mental command that even he couldn't describe with words, a sand pillar shot up and surrounded the Magnetic Mistress, and then pulled her back down with it as gravity once again took hold. Out of sight, Avalanche was once again free of her power. Standing under his own power, he started to laugh. He loved to win.

Beneath him, the earth started to tremble, and his laughter died in his throat when his armor started to tingle again and grow heavy. With a surprised gulp, he was pulled down, under the sand, into the earth that had once been his servant—now he had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be his grave. The last thing he saw before he was submerged was a hint of green. Yes, she was definitely her father's daughter.

Lorna coughed as she fell against the course sand. Her powers focused on keeping the fighting mutant buried despite his attempts to free himself, she tried to clear her breathing, knowing for herself, just how close she had come to dying. Hearing the scream that she feared came from an ally, she hoped that Xavier had trained them all well enough to make it through this... she hoped that she really did have enough of her father's strength to make it through this. Just as she hoped, for a brief moment before she passed out from lack of oxygen, that her father had enough strength left to make it back from the darkness she had long ago lost him too, now made physical by the night he tumbled away from her into. But, she felt weaker than she had since reaching the mansion. And that, she admitted as darkness claimed her, was not a good sign.

---

Bobby shook his head, clamoring to his feet after the latest attack by the fast mutant, his vision growing fuzzy, making the already blurred Quicksilver, that much more difficult to see. This wasn't right—he should have been fighting Pyro. But where was his former friend?

A scream met his ears, followed by a shout. The shouting came from Kitty, but who was screaming? And where was Pietro? Looking quickly, he turned his head, and with squinting eyes he saw a sight that explained it all, and made his hatred for his former best friend grow, and also explained why, all of a sudden, he had smelt burning metal.

---

Colossus had wondered from the first moment of seeing him on the screen in the war room, just who would win in a fight, the unmovable blob, or the colossal shining knight. He thought he was going to get his chance when they charged each other. But, at the last moment, the Blob pulled up short, and propelled Colossus away from him when the latter made contact with the massive midsection of the first. Surprised to find himself back by Kitty and being helped to his feet by Angel, Peter shook his head. That shouldn't have happened.

"Blob," a familiar voice called, "Take care of the Cajun, I have these X-Geeks."

Pyro. He had never been close to the pyrokinetic during his time at the mansion. The one memory he had of him, the memory that stuck with him, that had caused him not to be surprised when Pyro shifted sides, was when the blond had gotten drunk one night while Jean and Xavier had been away. He had found Peter drawing in the den, and with his lighter flicking constantly asked him "if he knew what would happen to his armor in a flame? Would it act like all metal when it got hot enough?"

Jaw clenching, Colossus shrugged off Angel's hand and stood tall before the blond, hiding away his fear in the face of the man who always affirmed why he had a reason to be afraid of fire. But he was a knight, and there were those who needed him to protect them. He was a hero. He would make sure that the others would make it back. He would protect them from Pyro. No matter what. Rogue wasn't the only hero around.

Pyro laughed as Colossus moved in front of Kitty and Kurt, "You know, I always knew you were sweet on her. Sweet little Kitty, how long can you stay phased with someone else?" A ball of flame grew in his hand, "Shall we find out?"

A breeze kicked up for a moment and with a glance to his right Peter saw Pietro standing there, a foot on Angel's neck, one arm twisted in his grip, ready to break at a whim.

"Kitty, phase!" Peter called as Pyro let the flame go; laughing as it hit Colossus.

"Peter!" Kitty shouted, shielding her eyes, trying to remain phased to protect herself and Kurt from the heat of the flame.

"Let's see who can last longer," Pyro yelled, enjoying himself more than he ever thought he would back in the days of living among the mutants he now sought to torture, "Her phasing or your armor. Let's heat things up!" He laughed as his flame began to turn blue, a new trick he had learned. He was capable of controlling the flames temperature now, not just the flame itself. It was a trick that he was proud to show off.

Peter was growing red, he could feel his armor and skin together starting to boil and sag and melt away. His lungs were burning, but he could not let Kitty down, he would not let his new family down like he did his old… he would not give up. No matter how much pain he felt.

Finally he screamed: a sound that told the world and his friends—his family—of the agony that he still would not step down from. Rogue! He mentally shouted, you haven't sacrificed yourself alone!

Pyro laughed again when Colossus finally fell to his knees, his shape no longer resembling the tall man whom had thought himself unbreakable. His laughter stopped however, at the sight of Kitty, phased, walking with tears streaming down her face, first through Peter, then through the flame, stopping in front of Pyro.

"You wondered how long I could phase," she spat, glancing down to the wrist lighters he now wore, "Long enough to see what those are made of." She swiped her hand through them, laughing when they sputtered and sparked and then died. The flames he had in his hands soon followed suit. "That's what I thought," she told him with a smirk as she swung her leg and kicked him square in the side of the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The yelp that she heard beside her, as she turned her attention back to the man who had been her best friend, who had saved her and made her feel safe, her own knight, her Colossus, told her that Angel had freed himself of the pesky Quicksilver. Looking she smiled at the sight. Pietro was frozen and lying on his side while Bobby helped Angel to his feet.

Inhaling deeply she sunk to her knees in front of Peter, afraid to touch him, not knowing if he was still alive, or even how anyone could still be alive under such torture. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, trying to keep herself strong for him, glad in that moment that Bobby and Warren were both there, to be strong with her, to help her help their fallen knight—their fallen hero.

---

Combining the Phoenix's psychic powers, Wanda's ability to make the improbable possible, and her own ability to dare to try, Rogue held onto Onslaught, blocking the memories, searching to the psyche trapped within the murky mind. Grabbing a hold of it, she drew it and it alone into her, smiling at the familiar feel of him, and channeled him through her, into the scarlet orb held within her other, gloved hand.

"Hello Professor," she greeted within her mind, "Don't worry, you won't be staying long."

"Rogue?" He weakly asked, with a proud smile, "Keeping well I see."

"Something like that."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

She smirked as he started to fade, "You and Logan taught me well."

"That's what I fear." His voice said even as his presence left.

About ready to let go of the shell that now only housed the Shadowking, she felt it. Pain. Peter! So much pain!

It filled her and overwhelmed her, causing her to be caught off guard with what happened when Onslaught lost his most valued asset, and was just the Shadow King once more and sought revenge. With psychic claws he swung, catching Rogue in the temple, overloading her senses. Screaming with every fiber of her being, every inch of her mind and body in pain, reacting together, she felt, for a brief moment her control slip—but it was enough, and for that brief moment, she wasn't in control: her instincts were. Surrounded by a scarlet phoenix that leapt around her; bone claws leapt from her fists and dug deeply into the stomach of the Shadowking, who merely laughed.

Dazed, with a throbbing temple, she looked at her belly. There, three perfect holes were starting to bleed. Confused, consciousness starting to leave her, she looked into the black eyes of the Shadowking, "You son of a bitch."

Then, with an inhuman scream, pain took hold.

---

Onslaught screamed when Rogue's bare hand made contact, sending out a backwash of psychic energy that threw everyone below them to the ground, even the unstoppable Juggernaut was brought to his knees by the force of it. Glad for the presence of his visor to shield his eyes from the kicked up sand, Cyclops surveyed their positions, none the worse for wear, even Logan who even as he fell stabbed Sabertooth through the heart—twice. Pleased to have the feral man on his side, Cyclops was forced to look up at the bright red light that even shone through his ruby lenses.

There, surrounded in a scarlet phoenix, was Rogue, bare hand on the forehead of Onslaught, and a scarlet hued orb in her other hand. They watched with baited breaths as the orb faded, as darkness overtook the Shadowking, as he striked out with psychic claws, and then as Rogue stabbed herself.

"Oh my stars and garters," he heard Hank mutter beside him as, with a cry that was a mix of Rogue, Jean, the Professor and whom he guessed was Wanda, came out of Rogue's throat, she fell from the sky.

Leaving Scott to finish off the Juggernaut, Hank took off towards the falling woman, leaping just in time to catch her. Rolling to absorb the impact of the jump, he held her close to him, keeping one eye on her bare hand even as he checked her vitals. There was no pulse. Holding his breath, hoping that Logan's healing factor wouldn't fail her—hoping that he himself wouldn't fail her—he checked again, sighing when her pulse suddenly jumped under his fingers.

He sat her up when she began to cough. Blood trickled out the corner of her mouth, her breathing harsh, and she settled back against the furry doctor. "So this is what being a hero feels like?" She asked with a rough gravelly breath, "Remind me not to do it again."

He laughed, smoothing her hair back with gentle touches, "You did good Rogue."

She shook her head, "I'm not done yet." Her breathing hitched again, "Tell Emma that she was right, and that I listened. Tell her that I'm stepping into the light."

Growing afraid when she stilled, his heart skipping more than just one beat, Hank once again felt for a pulse, and for the first time in years, actually prayed that he would find it again; growing more and more despite with every moment that passed in which it still did not come.

"Oh Rogue," he whispered, finally giving up and gathered her into his arms as he stood, "Your sacrifice will not be in vain."

----

Note: The part about Colossus being melted actually happened in a comic in the 80's. He was heated up and then cooled very quickly causing him to basically be turned into a melty statue that was still conscious. He was in a lot of pain and couldn't do anything about it. This was just after Rogue joined the team and she touched him, taking on his powers (and with it the melty statue form) allowing Peter to be free and get healed. This proved her loyalty to the team and earned her a place in their trust and hearts. It is one of my favourite comics and is one that made me love both Rogue and Peter. Just thought I would give credit where credit is due.

And please don't worry, I am not killing off all the characters… yet.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: Not mine

Author's Note: Here is another part of the fight. All the "lesser baddies" have kind of been dealt with in time for Wolverine Origins! Which I hope will inspire me to write some more!

As always, please let me know how I'm doing.

Enjoy!

Chapter 36

Gambit laughed to himself as the Blob continued to charge him. In the back of his mind he could sense Peter's pain, but he couldn't let that take him off his guard. His emotions had to stay out of the fight. The last time it didn't—well, he was still being woken by the nightmares from the memory of it. Pushing that reminder aside he focused once again on Blob. He had found that the surprisingly fast mutant was unfazed by the kinetically charged cards that he had thrown. Now, it was time to try something new. Waiting until the last moment he stopped running and dived towards the lumbering fat man, and kicked at his legs. He cursed when his kick did nothing, and the Blob caught his feet; hauling them up, so that Gambit hung upside down.

"Think you can beat the Blob? Think again!"

"Gambit is mon ami!" Gambit called with a laugh, as his hand made contact with the sand under the Blob's feet, "Let's see how unmoving you are when the ground go boom!" With timing that came from a lifetime of training and instincts that he trusted without fail, he let go of the glowing earth, rode the force of the explosion, and rolled to safety, watching with a proud smile as the Blob was blown ten feet in the air, and fell unconscious to the sand.

The quip he had planned to say fell mute on his lips when he saw, just over the dune, the fiery form of the Phoenix rise and heard the screech that accompanied it—and he knew. In his heart and his gut and his mind, he knew that Rogue was gone. Hope still clung within the growing aching that surprised him with its strength. She wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to live. He still had lots of fighting to do for her. Swallowing hard, trying to moisten his drying throat, he turned away from the fiery effigy, sparing only a glance to where Kitty and Peter were, and looked to David. He still had a job to do. He would still make her proud.

But how can he stop someone in a coma without killing him? Sighing, head down, Gambit slowly made his way to the unprotected young man, knowing that with any luck, he would find a way. He collapsed his staff and stuffed it back into his pocket, pausing in his movements when he felt something that he didn't think had been there before: a psychic inhibitor. Touching it lightly, he turned once again to where the phoenix had once been, now faded from all but memory, and smiled. She had given him the means, now it was up to him, to find the way.

Oh yes, he still had a job to do—he would still fight. He would still make her proud.

---

Around him the battle still ragged on. Storm and Emma found the sand-created beings who did not feel the pain that the women inflicted upon them; Logan's growls told him that the feral man was still on his feet and going strong against the opponent who seemed as unlikely to quit as the Wolverine himself. Hank had rushed off, leaving only him, only Cyclops, facing the unstoppable Juggernaut. At first it was fun, taking out the knees with eye beams that have blasted holes through mountains. But then something happened, the phoenix had appeared, the flaming bird that he could remember seeing just before it took his fiancé, the love of his youth, away from him. Unfortunately, the Juggernaut was not a gentleman, and thought nothing of taking advantage of the man whose reminder of his recent loss caused him to be two seconds too slow in stopping the helmet clad mutant from slamming his hand around Scott's throat, his free hand clamping the brunet's eye-wear. Blind and desperate for air Cyclops could only hear, faintly over the sound of his own heart in his ear, the others coming to his aid. What had happened? He could still hear Logan and Sabertooth fighting. Was Hank coming to rescue him? Cyclops hoped that whoever it was wouldn't be too late.

---

Emma had closed her mind to everything around her, to Rogue's battle, to Onslaught, to the others over the Dune. They were distractions. Even the sight of the Phoenix and the pain that Rogue felt didn't stop her from battling the sand creatures that would not stop. With diamond skin in place she easily swiped though the masses that kept coming, trying to suffocate her and the Weather-Goddess. There, standing side-by-side, the goddess and queen finally found common ground in a fight to save their lives.

Then, the sand creatures fell away, and Emma allowed herself a moment to think, to discover the reason for them stopping—Xavier was gone from the Shadowking's mind…and she was overwhelmed. Scott!

Turning quickly she saw him at the Juggernaut's mercy and pointed Storm in the same direction. Only one clasp remained intact. Together they moved, Storm took to the air, a lightning bolt took care of the clasp and a wind storm removed it from his oversized body, leaving him vulnerable to Emma's powers. And Emma was not kind.

He screamed as fear and terror and panic overtook him, causing him to cower and hate himself and fear going back into that box that Magneto had found him in. And then, with a final blast of pure white mental energy he was in a state of sleep that even Emma herself wasn't sure he could ever find his way out of.

Scott fell to the ground, thankful for the air, hot and dry as it was. Storm and Emma were by his side instantly, helping him to his feet. On the ground by them was the being once called Onslaught, quickly recovering from Rogue's attack, and then, more recently, Gambit's.

"Xavier has been removed," Emma told them, probing his mind, "And Gambit was successful; David is no longer boosting him." Pausing for effect her eyes darted to Storm, "Only the Shadowking is left."

With a clenched jaw Storm looked to the man—the shell—that housed the bringer of her nightmares, her eyes turning white, "Then I say we bring him out to play."

"Inside the body he is strong," Emma yelled over the growing wind, "But outside, he only exists on the Astral Plane, there, I have a chance to beat him."

"Alright then," Cyclops said with a look between them, "Let's play smash the shell!"

---

Angel and Bobby fell to their knees beside Kitty.

"Oh God," Bobby muttered looking to Angel, his arms encircling Kitty who he knew needed him, no matter how strong she was trying to be, "What are we going to do?"

Angel swallowed hard. "I'm going to fix him." His voice shook, even though his mind had been made up on the matter. He wasn't sure if he could even do it; his healing abilities were new to him. He also didn't know what it would do to him. But he knew that he had to try. Peter risked his life for his fellow X-Men, and Warren knew in his guts that he could do no less. After all, Peter was only a knight, while he was an angel: and it was time he earned his wings.

"Can you do it?" Bobby asked him.

"We'll find out. But I'll need to touch him."

Bobby nodded, taking his cue. Peter was, after all, still smoldering from the assaults of Pyro's flame. "I'll cool him off."

"No," Kitty protested, sitting forward, "The sudden transition from extreme hot to cold could…"

He stopped her short, "Kitty, trust me. I know all about cold." Not waiting a moment longer he iced his hand and placed it on his friend, feeling for himself the torture that the colossal man had undergone. "He's still breathing," he told them with a hitched tone. Under his hand he could feel the flesh-like malleability of his metal skin, he could see the burns, and he could smell the burnt flesh mixed within the burnt metal.

A sigh escaped Peter as relief from the burning hit him and he sagged forward into Kitty's arms. For the first moment since Pyro's assault he could breathe a little bit easier.

"You're going to be okay," Kitty whispered, trying not to cry, casting a thankful look to her friend.

Bobby smiled at her, and stood, feeling as though he was intruding. "I'm going to check on the others." He didn't get far when he heard a screech that made everyone look to where they had landed. There, in the air, was the fiery Phoenix, and then, as suddenly as it came, the fire went out, and a figure fell from the air. "Rogue…" he swallowed hard, knowing that this was not the time, "I'm going to check on the others."

"Can you do this?" Kitty asked Angel, hopeful. She had a feeling what seeing that phoenix meant: they had lost Rogue. She didn't want to lose another.

"I'm going to try." He met Peter's eyes, "I've never done this before."

"It's okay," he breathed through his pain, a small smile on his face at the faint transparent figure over their shoulders, "You can do it. There is a big turtle watching over us."

---

Bobby focused on his breathing as he moved towards Lorna, he tried not to think: he had seen her fall. It happened too quickly… he shook his head trying to focus only on what was before him. He sunk to his knees beside the woman, hoping that she was still breathing. He had lost too many friends and teammates to make him alright with losing another.

He turned then, hand iced, when a shadow fell over him. Bobby relaxed, slightly, at the sight of Gambit, Bo staff in hand. They stayed like that a moment, staring at one another, both knowing, more than any other there, just what kind of loss the other was then experiencing.

Lorna's moaning called their attention to her, and Gambit offered Iceman his aid in helping the magnetic mutant to stand.

"Are you alright?" Bobby asked.

"Yes. Avalanche... he—I can't feel his armor any more. He's using the earth to block me. He's still alive."

"Catch your breath," Bobby soothed, "We'll get him."

"How else are we standing?"

"David is taken out," Gambit told her, "Onslaught is neutralized."

"Rogue…" Bobby couldn't continue.

Lorna nodded, fearing that she understood all too well what he couldn't say, "And the others?"

"You better see for yourself."

---

Before that moment the furthest that Angel had spread his healing abilities was the time when Wolfsbane had gotten poison ivy over her entire body after a game of fetch with Roberto. The experience had left him with a ghost itchiness that lingered for a couple days. This—well he wasn't sure what to expect—except for pain.

Hands shaking despite his best attempts to keep them calm Angel removed his gloves and placed his palms on the once smooth armored skin. Following the instructions that he had been given to access his new powers, Angel breathed deeply, finding the spot within him that he could only call his light, and pulled it to the surface. He felt the change as the light spread over him, his hair and feathers, he knew, would be golden, and the warmth that felt like he was under the tropical sun filled his entire self. If anything felt like heaven, it was that moment, right before entering hell.

Taking one final breath to steady his nerves he exhaled deeply, pushing the warmth from him, sending it, willing it, into Peter, shivering despite himself at the chill that came when it left him. His skin started to prickle as the texture of Peter's flesh started to become his own, and then, he knew that pain would soon follow.

But it didn't.

Surprised, he opened his eyes, wondering if it hadn't worked, if his fear had gotten the best of him. But it was working. Peter held the glow that had once filled Angel, and his skin was starting to smooth, and his pain, Warren could tell from his expression, was easing. After a couple moments, Colossus was strong enough to let his armor drop and his skin, tender and prickly, was once more exposed.

It was only then that Angel felt the toll of such an undertaking, of sharing his soul with another, and brought the warmth back, buried it deep within him, where it would again make him strong.

Kitty smiled and threw her arms around the weak blond, and eased him to a comfortable position beside her. There, with the three fallen mutants around her, she would keep guard, and keep them safe. It was now her turn to be the hero on duty.

"You did it!" Kitty cried with a laugh.

"It was weird," he told them, his hand on his head where it felt like the past moments had been spent in a dream, "It felt like I wasn't alone. Hey maybe heroes do get an angel looking over their shoulders!"

Peter smiled, his pain now bearable and his healing well underway, "Or maybe we get a Rogue?"

---

Please R&R… I hope it was worth the wait!


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: Not mine, just taking them out for exercise.

AN: I'm sorry for the LONG delay between updates. Life got in the way and I forgot where this was going. I recently re-read it and along with my fic Weapon X2 I'm starting to work my way to the end, which is daunting with this fic considering how much there is to wrap up. But I WILL finish it. Thank you everyone for sticking with me on this. This chapter, a tease, is for you.

Chapter 37

Clouds darkened the already night sky, thunder rolled over the sandy dunes and lightning striking repeatedly was the only light—that and the ruby beams that could been seen just over the rise. The group by the temple gathered by their fallen and looked on with apprehension, the static air thick around them, all wondering, all hoping that everything and everyone over the hill still standing would make it out of this alive.

"So," Kitty asked as they looked on in silence, "What do we do now."

Lorna didn't tear her eyes away from the battle, "We wait."

"For them to come back?"

"If we're lucky," was all that the older mutant said. That was all that she had to say for them to understand. They were lucky to be alive. But Shadowking still lived, the temple was still exposed, and the others were still fighting. No one knew when their luck would be running out. No one knew who would be next coming over the hill.

Lorna, Gambit and Bobby took up positions surrounding the remaining X-Men, ready to protect their own, whatever came next.

~x~

Had he ever hated anyone as much as he did him? Only himself, Logan was certain. There was something about Sabertooth that made him want to bleed him dry, despite liking the challenge.

They were both getting tired, and the sting of his healing factor was growing into a steady hum in the foreground of his mind that threatened to push out everything else around him. Everything but Sabertooth.

A year ago that wouldn't have bothered him.

A year ago he never really considered himself a real X-Man.

Now he was housebroken. Now he belonged. Now he wanted to know that everyone else would be alright. Even if it meant stopping his own battle short. He needed to know that everyone else was alright. He needed to know that his family was alright.

Growling, clenching his jaw against the stinging of his eyes and skin from the wind that danced at his goddess's command, he lunged and laughed thickly at the feel of his blades sinking deep into his opponent's heart, revelling in the sound of it stopping.

Sabertooth sagged into him. It was the moment. The window of opportunity. His one chance of success. Sometimes knowing his own weaknesses allowed him strength over others. He chuckled in the back of his throat as he plunged his second set of claws into the feral mutant's chest and together, flicked his wrists.

~x~

Emma stood in diamond form watching Shadowking carefully, monitoring his mind as much as she could in her armor, but she could see him weakening. She smiled, no one could resist attacks from both land and air, from lasers that could pound their way through mountains AND from the full force of the power that earned Storm her name. Not even the dreaded Shadowking.

Her smile grew when, finally, with both mutants weakening, the smouldering body that the Shadowking had crawled into fell from the sky, crashing to the unforgiving sand in a useless lump of pulverized bones.

An eyebrow rose as she reverted to her natural form, looking at the other two who were then joining her, "I believe that was overkill."

Storm looked at her with a frown, "You wanted him to come out. Now he doesn't have much of a choice."

Emma sensed just how right they really were. Behind her, she registered Logan winning his fight. "Get back, go with the others. When he comes out, he's going to be looking for a new body."

"Then how can you fight him?"

She smiled again as she looked at Scott, marvelling at how much of their world Jean and the Professor had hid, "Out of body," she told him simply. "Go!"

She waited for them to leave before looking to Logan, "Is he dead?"

"I'm hoping. I cut his fucking heart out. What's the plan?"

"I'm going to fight the Shadowking; you are going to take my body back to the others. Beast is in the jet with Rogue, take them with you."

"How can you fight him without a body?"

"Hopefully," she told him just before her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp in his arms, "Not alone."

At the mention of Rogue, Logan's mind was pulled out of his own concerns. He listened hard for a heartbeat, for the one that he knew to be hers. Silence. He was then aware of Emma falling. Blood covered hands caught her. And he knew that she would be mad for him getting her dirty. But that's what she got for wearing white on a battlefield.

Picking her up, he went to the Jet and slowly walked up the ramp, seeing Hank sitting, dirty from battle, hair in matted clusters, deep in thought next to the pale body that was far too still.

"Hank!"

"She's dead. She almost came back, but, I couldn't save her."

"Come on," he grumbled, not looking at the girl he long ago swore to protect. "Queeny wants us to take them to the others."

"And do what?" The blue genus asked, gingerly picking up his charge, understanding Logan's feelings when the feral man could not bring himself to look at her.

"Wait."

~x~

Emma closed her eyes and felt herself fall away from her body—correction, felt her body fall away from her. She frowned as she saw her body fall, and be caught by Logan, her new uniform soiled by the blood of his enemy. Before she could pursue her own thoughts on the matter, the white light she was awaiting surrounded her: the doorway to the Astral Plane. There, leaning against a wall of her own imagining was Rogue, arms crossed, impatiently looking at the White Queen.

"Took you long enough."

Emma smiled, marveling at the ease to which the youth was adjusting, "You found your way I see."

"No thanks to you," Rogue told her, standing straight, "I should thank you, as always, for your detailed explanation."

"You had other things to do."

"A hero's work is never done." Rogue mused looking to the Astral Plane, a blank, graying land that shifted and spun its landscape to the will of those who were there. In the distance she could see the Shadow King, in his true form of darkness, thick armour making him appear twice the size she knew he should be in the "real world".

"He ain't very pretty."

"He's the nightmares of man and mutants giving life and form. He isn't meant to be pretty." Closing her eyes again, Emma built around herself her own psychic armour, "Well then, shall we?"

Rogue shook her head as Emma stepped past her, grumbling as she followed behind, quickly searching for the information that again, Emma had neglected to share with her. "We really have to work on your communication skills Em; how'd you do that?"

~x~

There was silence. Had they won? The clouds that had blocked out the skies had cleared, allowing the mutants that had gathered, those who could only watch, to see who was joining them over the rise. First was Storm and Cyclops, with the fallen body of Wanda, knowing that anyone left living near the battle could easily be taken over.

They moved as quickly as their tired bodies could to where the others were, looking after the injured, Gambit and Bobby standing guard as Lorna and Kitty tended to the wounded as best they could.

"How'd you do?" Scott asked Bobby, looking around.

"Survived for the most part," he told him honestly, with a shrug, "We've rounded up the bad guys, all except Avalanche who is MIA."

They exchanged a brief look, both understanding the potential for harm that still existed with a mutant of such skill not being accounted for. But they had enough to worry about in that moment for either to want to add more. "Hopefully Emma can track him when she..." Scott fell silent when he saw her. Emma Frost, in the arms of Logan, coming over the hill, her body limp and face pale. "What happened?"

Logan grunted when he eased her to the ground, "Dunno. She just, left her body."

Storm met his eye, "She's gone to the Astral Plane to fight him."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Kitty asked, looking around.

"There is one thing," Hank told them in a solum tone, as he joined them, his burden heavy in his arms, but bearing it bravely, knowing the respect that they all owed her. He hugged her to him, knowing that he may have to break a promise to Moira and hating himself for failing her, for failing them all. "We can mourn."

~x~

More to come. Pinky swear.

Please R&R.


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: Checked, prayed, pouted and threw a tantrum or two. Even asked Santa. Alas, still not mine.

AN: Thank you for the PM's, the reviews, the adding to watch lists and fav stories. Thank you for not giving up on me. For that, I haven't given up on this. And this Chapter and those to follow, are for all of you.

Chapter 38

Emma fell back with a curse that was matched by the one Rogue let fly as she was thrown across the darkness of the Astral Plane. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the lumbering giant who was smiling down at her. They were in his playground, these were his rules. Growing up she had always found a way to cheat. Here, in the Astral Plane, the best she could hope for was to be able to change the rules.

Had she the time, she would have felt bad for Rogue, remembering for herself the first trip she made into the featureless land. Her sister and Xavier had spent many hours preparing her for the journey but nothing compared to seeing it for herself, learning the rules for herself. It took time, and she wasn't fighting for her life when she did it.

Yes, she would have felt bad for the younger woman had the Shadowking not attacked, driving his sword into her armour, piercing her very psyche as he did so.

This, she thought with a grimace as he laughed above her, his sword twisting in her soul, was definitely going to leave a mark.

~x~

Hank busied himself with seeing to Peter's wounds with the med-kit that he had thought to bring with him. Next to him Kitty sat with Angel and Kurt, the pair resting. In the distance Lorna was looking at the half-risen temple. Nearer to him Bobby and Gambit were standing over Rogue in pained silence while the rest were with Emma, looking for signs of how her part in the war was going.

"You know," Wolverine told them from where he sat, allowing his healing factor to take care of his wounds, "Never been a fan of waiting around."

Scott rolled his eyes, "That doesn't surprise anyone. Storm, Hank, what do you know about the Astral Plane?"

"It's where the Shadowking exists,"Storm told him, surprised that the Professor or Jean didn't tell him more about it. "It's where the Professor defeated him last time."

"But what is it?"

"A psychic plane of reality," Hank filled in, not looking up, "Created by mental energy and can only be accessed by psychics. It was said to be built by the power of nightmares. The strength of people's fear build the changing landscape and its guardian."

"The Shadowking," Cyclops put in with a nod, looking back to Emma, "So he's stuck there."

"For now. Unless the Astral Plane is destroyed its unknown if he can truly be defeated. The most Emma will be able to do is slow him down."

"And he can't jump into her body? Or Rogues?"

Hank shook his head, "They are too far away from where his last body dropped."

Logan looked up, "Hey, can he jump into dead people?"

Scott's eyes met Storm's, "Sabertooth."

"I-I don't know," Hank allowed with a knowing frown. "He's missing a heart, I don't know if that's enough to stop the Shadowking from taking over. If there is any brain waves at all it is possible..." he dropped off when Logan stood, "I'll go."

"Non," Gambit told him with a frown, "I will go. Shadowking shouldn't be able to sense me coming."

"It may be wise to bring the jet over the rise," Hank put in with a worried expression. He knew that while Remy wouldn't be able to be spotted by the Shadowking, he also wouldn't be able to fly the jet, which meant that someone else would have to go with him. "I wouldn't normally suggest it under the circumstances but I need more equipment than I currently have to treat some of these wounds."

Bobby stood straight, cutting him off, "I'll go with him."

Scott nodded, not liking it but knowing of nothing else. He knew he was a beacon for psychic energy and Storm had already fallen under the shadowking's rule. While Kitty would have been another wise choice he knew that she was weakened from maintaining her powers for as long as she had. "Be careful. We don't know what's going on in the Astral Plane."

"Well, we know that it isn't good," Logan cut in grimly. His eyes were on Emma's stomach where a long jagged cut appeared. Luckily, for the moment, there was only the smallest amount of blood.

Storm sunk down, placing pressure against the wound before it would open up entirely once her body realized it was there. "Come on Emma, you can beat him."

"Can she?" Logan asked, meeting her eye. They both knew that she was no Xavier.

Peter struggled to sit up, looking at them all seriously, "We will all make it. Rogue is watching over us. We will not fail her."

Kitty blushed when he fell back, exhausted, into her. She looked between Remy and Bobby before focusing on Scott, "Sorry, he's been through a lot."

"You two better hurry," Storm urged, "While everyone is distracted."

The pair looked at one another awkwardly before making their way over the dune.

~X~

Moira sighed as she looked up from her work station. She was tired but refused to look at the clocks she had long before taken down. She didn't want to know how long they had been gone. She didn't want to fear that it was a bad sign. Instead she threw herself into her work, preparing the medical lab for the worst possible outcomes while waiting for the final analysis of the synthesized Rogue Protein to be completed. When it finally signaled that it was ready she was pleased with the results. She was confidant that sooner than she had originally thought, it would be ready to be released to the world.

She tried not to add to her list of worries what the rest of the world will think of her for the invention, and what troubles it will bring to her door. She didn't regret it, she couldn't. Too much had been done for her to go back now. She only hoped that the world, and she herself, would be ready for whatever came next.

~X~

Remy hated standing around as much as Logan did. He had always fidgeted, always felt the need to be doing something. So when the chance came to have an employment, he jumped at it, not even minding that Snowball was along for the ride.

"Will you be able to sense him near?"

Gambit shrugged. Although he had heard of the Shadowking, he had never encountered him before this. He wasn't ashamed to say that he was glad of that fact. He already had too many big bad's on his acquaintance list. "Probably not until he took you over."

Bobby stopped once he heard the irritation in the Cajun's tone. "Look, you won! You don't have to be sour about it."

Confused and angry, Gambit turned, his red eyes flashing in the dark, "Won, mon ami?"

He nodded, swallowing hard, "Yeah. Rogue chose you. You won."

Gambit almost laughed, would have laughed if his throat didn't feel as though it was going to close itself off. Instead his shoulders sagged, "No, we both lost because she died and Gambit's a liar. You have your memories to keep you warm. Come, before he senses you."

Silently, Bobby followed the other man over the hill and into the gully below, neither aware before that moment just how far Nightcrawler had taken them. They neared Sabertooth first.

"Sense anything?"

"Non. You better start the jet," he warned, taking out his staff, "This ain't gonna be pretty."

Gambit waited until the other man had left before squatting down beside the feral man, his mind playing over and over the fight they had in the tunnels. Of the girl he had managed to save. Sabertooth had almost cut his throat for it.

"Well mon ami, here we are, the way we were meant to be. You, dead, and me blowing you to pieces." He started to charge the clothes the feral wore, "I owe you nothing less."

He held it for a moment, imprinting the feeling of surviving the man who once made him wish for hell, before letting go and sprinting to the open ramp of the Jet.

"You better move it quick," he told Bobby, "There gonna be a big boom soon!"

~X~

Something clicked.

A memory, a vision, common sense.

Whatever it was, Rogue was thankful for it happening. Emma lay with the sword in her belly, the Shadowking above her, about to strike out, when Rogue's claws itched. And she brought them out.

And there, were 6 invulnerable bone claws covered in psychic power. Without a second thought she acted, guided by thoughts and voices that she almost feared obeying. She was charging the armed guardian, and her claws were breaking his barriers.

He howled out in pain as he stepped back, trying to regain his focus. But it was long enough for Rogue to look at the woman trying to maintain her place within the realm and to know what she had to do.

She frowned, "You better be right about this," she grumbled as she jumped into Emma, allowing her mind, her power, her will to be added to Emma's own.

"What are you doing?" Emma thought even as her strength returned.

"Taking the bruises so you can win the war."

"How did you...?"

"For someone who fancied herself a teacher," a new voice laughed, "There is still much for you to learn."

"Professor?"

~X~

They could see the kinetic explosion from where they were, waiting for news of what would come next.

Logan frowned as he looked to Cyclops, "Kid's got power."

"He's a Summers."

In the moment that followed none expected the ground to continue to shake. From behind them Lorna yelled, drawing their attentions to the temple that was beginning its rise again. Scott and Logan rushed forward, sparing only a glance to Storm who stayed with Emma.

"Avalanche?" Scott asked his sister-in-law.

"If it is, I can't sense him."

"If its not him then..."

"Then Apocalypse is waking up!"

~X~

I know I don't deserve it, but please R&R.

More to come. Pinky swear.


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